[News] Israel's Ben-Gvir Bans Palestinian Flag in Public Spaces

[Anti-Imperialist News]

palestinechronicle.com
<https://www.palestinechronicle.com/israels-ben-gvir-bans-palestinian-flag-in-public-spaces/>
Israel's Ben-Gvir Bans Palestinian Flag in Public SpacesJanuary 9, 2023
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A child raising a Palestinian flag on Land Day. (Photo: Mahmoud Ajjour, The
Palestine Chronicle)

Israel’s new far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said on
Sunday that he ordered police to remove Palestinian flags from public
spaces, Reuters news agency reported.

Israeli authorities have long suppressed the display of the Palestinian
flag in Israel. Although Israeli law does not outlaw Palestinian flags,
Israeli forces “have the right to remove them in cases where they deem
there is a threat to public order,” according to Reuters.

Sunday’s directive from Ben-Gvir appears to signal an uncompromising
attitude toward Palestinian expressions of identity, free speech and
pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

Ben-Gvir said in a statement that waving the Palestinian flag is an act
supporting terrorism.

“It cannot be that lawbreakers wave terrorist flags, incite and encourage
terrorism, so I ordered the removal of flags supporting terrorism from the
public space and to stop the incitement against Israel,” he said.

The move follows the waving of the flag by former Palestinian prisoner
Karim Younis, who was released on Thursday after spending 40 years behind
bars and, according to Reuters, “received a hero’s welcome in his village
in northern Israel.”

A survey conducted by Amnesty International last August has revealed
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20220803-amnesty-says-most-israelis-fear-seeing-palestine-flag/>
that most Israelis fear the sight of the Palestinian flag and that half of
the Palestinians in Israel believe that raising the flag of Palestine is
part of their national identity.

*(PC, Reuters)*


(The Palestine Chronicle is a registered
<https://www.palestinechronicle.com/about/> 501(c)3 organization, thus, all
donations are tax deductible.)
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