The student cells of the Arab parties at Tel Aviv University are pressuring the university administration not to allow soldiers and reservists to carry weapons. According to the regulations of Tel Aviv University, soldiers and reservists are allowed and permitted to carry weapons on them. The only requirement from the university's perspective is "to conceal the weapon as much as possible, on the body."
However, the student unions of the Arab parties, mainly, are pressing not to allow soldiers and reservists studying at the university to carry weapons around the campus. The main argument is that it causes discomfort among Arab students. In one program where IDF soldiers participate, called the Erez Program, the soldiers are required not to carry weapons. This is an IDF program for combat commanders that combines studies at Tel Aviv University.
In a statement issued by the Arab student factions, it was claimed that "Palestinian and Jewish students are forced to swallow the bitter pill of cooperation between the university and the army; soldiers will roam the university in uniform. However, it has been made clear to us, and we will insist on it, that soldiers will not walk around with weapons on the university campus. Unfortunately, today we discovered that the agreement was not honoured and many long-barrelled weapons were circulating among us."
Soldiers participating in this program claim that they feel pressured to persuade the army to give up carrying weapons. Response from Tel Aviv University: "According to the law, any citizen or soldier carrying a licensed weapon is allowed to carry it on campus grounds." Regarding the soldiers in the "Erez Program," it has been pre-arranged between the university and the program heads that they will not carry weapons on campus (among other reasons, to free the soldiers from the "burden" of carrying weapons during academic studies and to allow them easier integration on campus). The university is examining the issue with the management of the 'Erez' program.
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