(MEMO) — One of the biggest weapons manufacture in the world is setting up shop in Jerusalem to deliver education programmes to children as young as five.

Lockheed Martin is famous for manufacturing the F-35 fighter jet, famed for pummeling Palestinians in Gaza. The American aerospace and weapons firm is now partnering with the Israeli education ministry to open a “one of a kind” school in Jerusalem.

The company known worldwide for developing state of the art killing machines has several schools in Israeli cities. But the new school will be the first in Jerusalem. It is due to open during the 2018/2019 school year and is said to be quite unique. Israeli sources say that the “facility will seek to foster and boost advanced technology” apparently “from the earliest age possible”.

Kids as early as five or six will be provided with computers and state of the art technology to develop what one presumes will be the finest minds in the art of killing.

Lockheed’s kindergarten will cost $250,000 with the American company footing most of the bill.

CEO of Lockheed Martin Israel, Joshua Shani, delighting over the new school said: “Our preschools are an Israeli innovation in every respect, and already, delegations have arrived from other countries, like Korea and Germany, that are thinking of going in a similar direction.”

Explaining the partnership between a weapons manufacturer and early year schooling, Shani admitted that the involvement in preschools “isn’t logical”. Justifying the partnership Shani said: “But the moment a commercial company wants to contribute to the community, it becomes worthwhile. We could have set up a research institute on military aviation worldwide, but we went in the direction of education because that’s what fires us up.”

Israel is famed for its state of the art weapons programme, supplying “combat tested” arsenal around the world, including to despots and dictators accused of committing genocide and ethnic cleansing. It’s partnership with one of the world’s largest manufacturer of weapons to deliver education to young children is bound to raise further moral and ethical questions over the country’s love affair with the weapons industry.

Creative Commons / Middle East Monitor / Report a typo

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