A number of participants in the Interior Ministry’s cadet course refused to participate in a scheduled tour of Judea and Samaria, Channel 10 reported on Monday. 

During the first stage of the course, the cadets, Jews and Arabs alike, toured the periphery and Arab communities within the 1949 Armistice Lines. 

But then two weeks ago, when the trainees were informed of plans to tour Judea and Samaria, the six Arab cadets publicly declared a boycott and refused to attend. 

When the Interior Ministry ordered to remove them from the course, the cadets contacted Joint Arab List chairman Ayman Odeh and threatened to write to international media with their “story.”

The Interior Ministry subsequently changed its position, after, it said, “consulting with public officials and out of a desire not to hurt the program,” and acceded to the Arab cadets’ demands. 

Now, as the cadets prepare to finish the course and integrate into public leadership positions within the ministry, attorney Itamar Ben-Gvir has demanded Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Interior Minister Silvan Shalom invalidate this decision. 

Responding, the Interior Ministry said, “since the cadets weren’t informed of the tour in Judea-Samaria in advance, the ministry allowed them to write a seminar paper on the local authority. In the next cycle, all cadets must participate in all planned events without exception.”