An event scheduled to take place at a Nicosia primary school under high-security conditions in collaboration with the Israeli Embassy has been moved to another venue, Minister of Education Athena Michaelidou said on Friday.

The planned event became the focus of a public outcry after the publication of a notice sent out by the ministry, informing parents that the event had been planned for June 17, coinciding with end-of-year festivities and student graduations, to accommodate “Israeli Independence Day”.

Speaking to CyBC, Michaelidou said the event had been moved by the Israeli embassy to another venue after complaints from parents, which she said were “understandable”. It was “purely intended as an occasion to raise environmental awareness,” the minister added.

Opposition party Akel on Wednesday called for the event to be cancelled, calling it “shameful”.

“The planned event at a primary school, co-organised by the ministry of education and the embassy of the genocidal state of Israel, offends the dignity of the Cypriot people,” the party said.

Along with the school parents’ association, the event raised objections from teachers unions Poed and Isotita, and the Commissioner for Children’s Rights.

The organisations variously condemned the irony of an Israeli event taking place at a primary school when thousands of children had been killed and maimed in Gaza in the course of the Israeli campaign to eliminate Hamas, and also questioned the appropriateness of subjecting schoolchildren in Cyprus to heightened security measures, including uniformed and plainclothes police, metal detectors, and sniffer dogs.

The notice addressed to parents and published by Politis stated that the numbers of permitted participants in the event had been limited and that their personal details would need to be provided to the Israeli embassy online.

Cyprus Mail received a written statement from the Israeli embassy, saying it “was proud of its longstanding collaboration with the Cyprus Ministry of Education.”

This collaboration extends to Holocaust education, teacher training, and environmental innovation, the statement said.

The event had been intended to inaugurate a first-of-its-kind green roof on the school, an initiative which reflected a “shared commitment to education, sustainability, and community engagement, teaches climate responsibility and promotes urban innovation,” the Israeli embassy said.