At least five undocumented children diagnosed with learning disabilities in Tel Aviv have been assigned to a junior high school designated exclusively for foreign students, despite the availability of special education classes in other integrated schools across the city. This move marks a shift from their previous schooling, where these children studied alongside Israeli peers in mixed environments before transitioning to junior high.
The Tel Aviv municipality’s placement committee typically assigns students to schools based on the suitability of the institution for their specific needs, without strict adherence to geographic registration zones in the case of special education. However, recent decisions have resulted in asylum-seeking children being separated from their Israeli classmates. Three children from an elementary school’s special education class for asylum seekers were sent to a separate junior high school, while their Israeli peers were enrolled in integrated institutions.
Parents of the children have expressed concern and frustration over the separation. One mother described how her son, who had received years of education alongside Israeli children, was suddenly placed in Bialik-Rogozin, a school exclusively for foreign students. She learned of the placement only shortly before the school year began. Another family requested to transfer their child to one of two other junior high schools with special education facilities but was denied due to claimed full capacity. Their case was appealed by attorney Haran Reichman, who argued that geographical factors could not justify separating children based on nationality or residency status.
Following legal intervention, three children were subsequently placed in integrated schools, raising questions about the municipality’s earlier claims of capacity limitations. Similar concerns arose when another foreign-born student formerly educated alongside Israelis was assigned to Bialik-Rogozin. When her mother sought a transfer to one of three other junior high schools, the municipal education department initially lost the appeal request and delayed a response beyond the stated deadline. Only after persistent follow-up was the case scheduled for review by an exceptions committee.
These placements occur in the context of a recent Supreme Court ruling that identified the concentration of asylum seekers’ children in two schools in southern Tel Aviv as constituting racial segregation. The court, however, stopped short of ordering an immediate cessation of this practice. Municipal and Ministry of Education representatives asserted that student placement reflected residential distribution rather than intentional segregation. Yet, attorneys and advocacy groups highlight that such zoning arguments do not apply to special education, which is exempt from registration boundaries.
Looking ahead, about 84 undocumented children entering first grade have already been assigned to the separate schools of Bialik-Rogozin and Gvanim, with approximately 10 families requesting transfers to integrated settings being denied despite reports that those schools are willing to accommodate them.
Lea Ben-Nun, coordinator of children’s rights at the Levinsky Garden Library, a nonprofit serving foreign-born residents in Tel Aviv, characterized the separation as racial segregation driven by factors beyond educational or geographic considerations. She emphasized the deep social bonds formed by children raised together in mixed settings and criticized the municipality’s approach as reflective of a broader divisive agenda.
Attorneys Reichman and Tal Hassin, who represented appellants challenging the segregation, called the municipal policy a deliberate and unlawful practice, countering previous municipal assertions that segregation was an unavoidable reality. They pledged to continue legal efforts to end the practice, describing it as both legally and ethically indefensible.
The Tel Aviv municipality rejected allegations of bias, stating that every special education placement is determined by pupils’ needs, the suitability of available frameworks, space capacity, and proximity to home. Officials said all decisions followed these criteria in consultation with parents and that adjustments had been made where appropriate. The municipality also disputed that attorney Reichman’s appeal prompted any procedural change, noting that at least one alternative placement was arranged prior to the appeal. They affirmed their commitment to serving all children equally, regardless of origin or legal status.