politics

Entirely anecdotal but I actually know a fellow traveler in Israel right now in high school. The atmosphere in most Israeli educational facilities in particular, not just the ultrareligious Kahanist ones, is as bad as you'd expect and it's especially tough to be someone remotely left wing and decent since if state repression doesn't keep you quiet then the fascist mob mentality of the students and faculty will. Since the majority of Israeli schools are public and Israel is a unitary state, it puts everything into perspective of just how average Israelis behave (and just how much projection is behind the "they teach them young to hate" talking point about Palestinians).

Pretty depressing living under this repressed state where people justify the killing of innocent people and hateful speeches. When you're surrounding by such toxic environment, it's pretty hard to speak up and it requires tons of courage to spit the truth. This teacher have my respect!