By Oyintari Ben
Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s new far-right Minister of National Security, has ordered police to remove Palestinian flags from public areas because they constitute “terrorism.”
Israeli law does not forbid Palestinian flags, but police and military are allowed to take them down if they pose a threat to the peace.
Ben-directive Gvir’s from Sunday appears to signal a hardline and unyielding stance toward Palestinian expressions of identity, free speech, and pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Ben-Gvir is the leader of the ultranationalist Jewish Power party in Benjamin Netanyahu’s new far-right government and serves as national security minister.
Israeli authorities have long imposed strict restrictions on the flying of the Palestinian flag in Israel, which Palestinians view as an effort to stifle Palestinian identity.
Ben-directives Gvir’s came following a significant anti-government demonstration on Saturday in Tel Aviv, where some of the protesters carried Palestinian flags.
Protesters called for equality and peaceful coexistence between Palestinians and Israelis and denounced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recently sworn-in administration as “fascist.”
On Sunday, Netanyahu claimed through Twitter that the use of the Palestinian flag at the Tel Aviv rally was “wild incitement.”
The instruction from Ben-Gvir also comes in response to the recent week’s release of a long-serving Palestinian prisoner who was found guilty of kidnapping and murdering an Israeli soldier in 1983. The prisoner raised a Palestinian flag while enjoying a hero’s welcome in his northern Israeli community.
In a statement, Ben-Gvir claimed that supporting “terrorism” by waving the Palestinian flag.
Ben-Gvir stated, “It cannot be that lawbreakers fly terrorist flags, instigate and promote terrorism, so I ordered the removal of terrorist flags from public spaces and to cease the incitement against Israel.
