IDF paratrooper recruits who were being bused to their induction ceremony at the Western Wall (Kotel) were told to close the curtains on the bus windows as they arrived at the Damascus Gate of Jerusalem’s Old City Tuesday night – ending a tradition honoring the route Paratroopers entered to liberate Jerusalem during the Six-Day War. 

But while original reports about the incident indicated it was a police order from fears that Arab residents would identify that the bus was full of soldiers and start attacking it, a police source told Arutz Sheva Wednesday that the order contradicts police policy. 

“The claim that the order was allegedly made by the police is not known to me, and is puzzling – it’s contrary to the policy and guidelines of commanders and police officers in the field,” the Jerusalem-based police source said. 

 The IDF insists that the order came from the police. 

“The incident stands in opposition to the army’s instructions,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Office stated. “It will be investigated and lessons will be drawn from it.”

Meanwhile, a source present during the controversial event told Arutz Sheva “it is a disgrace.” 

“50 years since the liberation of Jerusalem, soldiers receive instructions not to enter the Old City – only because it will provoke anger among Muslims, or with someone else?” he fumed. “This is how we mark the liberation of our city?”