Some of the students at Hebrew University High School in Jerusalem, known as Leyada, refused to take part in a Memorial Day event at the school on Tuesday night, over the invitation of an Arab family whose daughter was killed during clashes with Border Police officers.

The event was initiated by the Bereaved Families Forum, and controversially chose to include the family of an Arab who was shot in Anata in the north of Jerusalem.

Students spoke to Arutz Sheva on condition of anonymity about their upset over the decision.

“To come on Memorial Day eve and to make a comparison between the IDF and terror organizations and terrorists makes no sense to us,” said the students. “The attachment to Memorial Day and the implications are serious, the school in practice gave a stage here to a radical organization with a very clear line.”

The students who did not take part in the ceremony instead held a class with their civics teacher at the same time as the event.

“The school gave us an alternative to talk with the civics teacher and we expressed our protest before her and the management, we asked that the meeting be canceled but without success.”

“It was made known to us that during the event the Palestinian father said serious things, such as that a 13-year-old holding a knife is not a terrorist, and that Hamas which hides rockets in homes in the Gaza Strip is exactly like Hakirya (governmental offices) in the heart of Tel Aviv.”

The students added that “we know that those who did take part in the event came out of it shocked.”

The Education Ministry has yet to respond to the incident.