Israeli amusement park segregates Arab, Jewish school trips

An Israeli amusement park acknowledged that it was renting out its facilities on separate days for Jewish and Arab school trips, but said it was at the schools’ request.

Superland, in central Israel’s Rishon LeZion, said in a statement issued Thursday that some Israeli junior and senior high schools booking end-of-the-year student fun days requested that events for Jewish and Arab schools be held on different days. Requests came from both sectors, the park said, and it followed through by setting aside a few separate days in June for the Jewish and Arab schools.

The segregation came to light after a seventh-grade teacher at an Arab school posted on his Facebook page that he had been unable to book a particular date using his own name, but that when he called and identified himself by a Jewish name he was able to secure the date.

Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni reportedly asked Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein to decide whether Superland was discriminating against Arab students in the wake of the discovery.

http://www.jta.org/2013/05/30/news-opinion/israel-middle-east/israeli-amusement-park-segregates-arab-jewish-school-trips