JERUSALEM — Israel’s Education Ministry has rejected a request to include a novel about a romance between a Jew and an Arab in the high school curriculum, reportedly because of concerns it could encourage assimilation.

Teachers had requested the book, “Borderlife,” be included in the ministry’s reading list but its content was deemed unfit for high school students.

The Israeli daily Haaretz quoted a letter written by education official Dalia Fenig as saying the book shouldn’t be included because teens cannot grasp the “significance of assimilation.”

In a statement Thursday, the ministry did not specify the reasons the book was rejected, saying only that the decision was made after weighing “advantages and disadvantages.”

The ministry’s high school reading list currently includes a novel about a romance between a Jew and an Arab.