West Bank yeshiva school ordered closed

JERUSALEM, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- In an unprecedented step, Israel's Education Ministry ordered a West Bank yeshiva high school shut down for inciting violence against Palestinians.

Israel Television Channel 1 reported Tuesday the ministry ordered the immediate closure of the Dorshei Yehudcha Yeshiva high school and said it would withhold further government funding of the adjacent Od Yosef Chai yeshiva, both in the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar.

The report said Shimshon Shoshani, the outgoing director-general at the ministry, said in a letter to Itzhak Bam, the legal adviser of the school and yeshiva, the students had been involved in many violent acts against Palestinian residents and Israeli security forces, often during yeshiva study hours.

Shoshani also said rabbis at the yeshiva support the violent activities and might be involved in them, the report said.

Responding to the move, Bam told the television channel the decision was an act "of collective punishment" against the so-called "price tag" attacks.

In recent months there have been a number of incidents where mosques in West Bank villages were torched, and Palestinians attacked and their vehicles stoned. While police and security forces are investigating the incidents, which were condemned by Israeli leaders, several suspects have been arrested but no one charged.