Israel's Flag on Educational Material: Minister Halabi Takes Action

The media office of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education issued the following statement: "Recently, the incidents of copying and reprinting school books published by the Center for Educational Research and Development have been increasing, the latest being the unified National Education and Civic Upbringing book, which is exclusive to the Center based on the constitution and the Taif Agreement. The National Education book was found printed with a cover bearing the image of the UN building and the flag of Israel among the flags of other countries. Therefore, Minister of Education and Higher Education Abbas Halabi has tasked the President of the Center for Educational Research and Development, Hayam Ishaq, and the legal department at the center to take legal action and pursue all those who have copied, printed, and maliciously distorted the unified National Education book and violated the right to produce series of national school books exclusively issued by the Center for Educational Research and Development. This action is similar to the measures the center took some time ago against publishing houses that produced school books unlawfully, where warnings and rulings were enforced decisively. The president of the center has also been tasked with monitoring the counterfeit books and the distortion of their contents, in cooperation with the Publishers' Syndicate, which maintains ongoing communication with the center and the Ministry of Education to curb this chaos and violation of intellectual property and legal rights in production. The schools have been warned against adopting such books, and the security authorities have been requested to intervene to prevent this chaos, which has primarily been caused by the economic conditions and the devaluation of the lira against the dollar, as no company or publishing house has participated in the tenders designated for printing the national book due to the payments being in Lebanese lira."