Israel's Christian schools striking over slashing of funding

Christian school administrators accuse Israel of cutting their funding as a tactic to pressure them to join the Israeli public school system — a move they say would interfere with the schools' Christian values and high academic achievements.

The vast majority of Israel's Christians are of Arab descent, and Arab lawmakers joined students, parents and principals at Sunday's demonstration, waving flags and holding banners with slogans such as "Christian schools are not for sale."

Under a longstanding arrangement, Christian schools and other private schools that manage their own affairs receive partial government funding, with the remainder of their budgets covered by either donations or tuition.