Meir Baruchin, an Israeli schoolteacher, pushes back

I was fired, arrested and jailed for four days in solitary confinement in a high security prison. For what? For posting about civilians killed in Gaza. I am Meir Baruchin, history and civics teacher in Tel Aviv.

Growing up, I was taught the Zionist claim of a land without people for people without land.

I learned of Arabs either as evil and dangerous or as ridiculous and stupid. I didn't know any Arabs and I never learned about the Nakba.

After these charges were dropped and I returned to teach at my school, some students refused to attend my class. Others cursed me or spat at me or on the ground in front of me.

Today, most of my students are respectful and are even willing to listen to what I have to say about... about what we are doing in Gaza, something they refused to do previously.