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This article examines the key category defining multiculturalism in Israeli history education: the representation of North African and Middle Eastern Jewry, aka Mizrahim. Applying Nordgren's and Johansson's conceptualisation, the article explores the changes in this subject from the establishment of Israel to the present day. The diachronic textual analysis shows that social and educational transformations along with developments in the historical discipline have led to a significant change in the representation of Mizrahim. These changes, the conceptual framework reveals, were manifested not solely in adding content but reflected a profound acknowledgement of multicultural approaches. Nevertheless it became clear that the changes are limited, as constructing the Eurocentric Zionist historical consciousness remains the primary goal of the education process. Similar to controversies around the world, the limited nature of the changes–despite the sincere efforts involved–is the result of the rigid national framework that continues to shape Israel's history education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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While the literature on the history of history education in Israel is vast, little has been written about it from teachers' perspectives. This article focuses on teachers' motivation for teaching history and explores what formed the ways in which they understood their profession in the 1970s and 1980s, a period of great social and political change in Israel. By focusing on history teachers' reaction to the Yom Kippur War (1973) and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, to the introduction of a new history curriculum (1975) and to the diversification of the Israeli society, the article shows that, in a rapidly changing world, these teachers saw themselves first and foremost as the ones in charge of maintaining unbroken links between their students and their national past. This often put history teachers in conflict with their professional surroundings, giving rise to heated arguments over the question: what should be the purpose of history education? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]