Ben-Gvir Orders Israeli Police to Remove Palestinian Flags in Public Spaces

Tel Aviv, MINA – Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, ordered the state police to remove the Palestinian flag from public spaces

The order was made a day after the flag was raised at an Israeli-led anti-government protest in Tel Aviv, Middle East Eye reported on Monday.

Meanwhile, Channel 13 reported, the Israeli police are not convinced by the unilateral decision, as Israel’s High Court has considered in many decisions that the right to expression should not be restricted.

An Israeli court on November 7 rejected a petition filed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) against the police commissioner, Jerusalem district commander and state prosecutor, demanding an end to the harassment of demonstrators carrying Palestinian flags.

The court said the petition had been rejected because the Attorney General had issued an update advising officers not to interfere with the raising of the flag unless it has the potential to trigger disturbance of the peace.

However, right-wing pundits and policy makers expressed outrage after the hoisting of the Palestinian flag in Tel Aviv on Saturday, including Prime Minister Netanyahu who criticized the opposition and the media for failing to condemn such wild incitement.

“I demand that everyone stop this immediately,” the Prime Minister tweeted.

In 2021, former Minister of Public Security Omer Bar-Lev said, only order the confiscation of the Palestinian flag in situations where security is threatened. (T/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)