Interesting points. For a long time I've been aghast that Arabic isn't mandatory for Israelis. However, it's naive to think Arabic fluency will cause the Arab world to accept Israel more (I think that there's very little that can cause that to happen). I can also see how understanding Arab rhetoric in the original could push the Israeli public farther to the right. All that said, it's crazy that Israelis do not understand their Arab neighbors, in Israel, in the territories, and in neighboring countries. The problem then of course becomes: which Arabic? Formal Arabic for the papers and news? Spoken Levantine to speak to Palestinians/Jordanians/Syrians/Lebanese? Classical for Quranic studies? Spoken Egyptian for movies? A combination? And how will this be balanced with the current curriculum (which includes English) for the Israeli pupil?