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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://www.palestinechronicle.com/israels-ben-gvir-bans-palestinian-flag-in-public-spaces/">palestinechronicle.com</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Israel's Ben-Gvir Bans Palestinian Flag in Public Spaces</h1>January 9, 2023</div>
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<img src="https://www.palestinechronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Land-Day-678x455.jpg" alt="" title="Land-Day" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="435" height="292">
A child raising a Palestinian flag on Land Day. (Photo: Mahmoud Ajjour, The Palestine Chronicle)
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Sunday’s directive from Ben-Gvir appears to signal an uncompromising
attitude toward Palestinian expressions of identity, free speech and
pro-Palestinian demonstrations.</p>
<p>Ben-Gvir said in a statement that waving the Palestinian flag is an act supporting terrorism.</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>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.”</p>
<p>A survey conducted by Amnesty International last August has <a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20220803-amnesty-says-most-israelis-fear-seeing-palestine-flag/">revealed</a>
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.</p>
<p><em>(PC, Reuters)</em></p>
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<center>(The Palestine Chronicle is a <a href="https://www.palestinechronicle.com/about/">registered</a> 501(c)3 organization, thus, all donations are tax deductible.)</center>
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