WCED accused of sneaking a trip to Israeli Occupied Palestine without announcing the visit

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Last week the Western Cape Education Department became the topic of conversation on social media when WCED officials were seen posing with Israeli (#IDF) soldiers. Now the WCED is being accused of sneaking a trip to Israeli Occupied Palestine without announcing the visit. It follows a trip by a delegation of the WCED and history teachers in the province to Jerusalem. The trip was initiated by the Holocaust Museum in Cape Town to allow local education officials and teachers to learn about the negative impact of oppression and the Holocaust.
Should our local teachers be visiting Israel? Well let’s get the view of the ANC's shadow MEC for education in the Western Cape legislature, Khalid Sayed. We invited the WCED on air but they declined to comment.

The WCED refused to give a verbal comment, however they issued a statement. The statement reads as follows
Official comment on the matter: There was no sneaking of a trip. It was an invitation that was accepted by the department and is a valuable opportunity to gain direct insight into the Jewish perspective of a critical part of world history. The Cape Town Holocaust and Genocide Centre in partnership with Yad Vashem School of Holocaust Studies hosted officials and teachers to address the moral and ethical ramifications of Holocaust and Genocide history. The teaching of the Holocaust and Nazi Germany, which is widely covered in the SA curriculum, also relates to issues of prejudice and racism during apartheid and in their own schools and local environments. There is no ill intent or agenda, but a learning opportunity presented for our educators on a very extensive part of our curriculum.
The photo was taken on a tour to the Western Wailing Wall, where they began a friendly conversation with some of the soldiers. The picture captured that particular moment and was posted with a variety of other photos capturing the events of the day. It has been deleted due to the fact that it has reportedly caused offence to some peop
23 Dec 2019 English South Africa Technology · News

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