Nurit Peled-Elhanan
About
Nurit Peled-Elhanan is an Israeli philologist and professor of language and education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, as well as a translator and activist. The daughter of Israeli general and politician Mattityahu (Matti) Peled, she has focused her academic work on discourse in Israeli education, especially the visual and verbal presentation of Palestinians and non‑Western Jews in school textbooks. Following the death of her 13‑year‑old daughter in a suicide bombing in Jerusalem, she became active in Israeli‑Palestinian dialogue initiatives and joined Bereaved Families for Peace. Peled-Elhanan’s research and public interventions argue that Israeli Jewish school textbooks systematically erase Palestinians as a people, depict Arabs as a collective threat, and normalize domination and segregation, which she has linked to apartheid and to enabling conditions for genocide. Her book “Palestine in Israeli School Books: Ideology and Propaganda in Education” and numerous interviews and lectures have become central references in discussions of Israeli state violence, anti‑Palestinian racism, and broader currents of Jewish anti‑Zionist and pro‑Palestinian dissent.
Roles and disciplines
Academic, Educator, Activist, Writer