Israel's extremist government has banned the display of Palestinian flags
Rights — di Luigi Mastrodonato
The measure against Palestinian flags was decided by Israeli minister Ben-Gvir, known for his racist positions against Muslims.
Israel's extremist government has banned the display of Palestinian flags
The measure against Palestinian flags was decided by Israeli minister Ben-Gvir, known for his racist positions against Muslims.
- Israeli Public Security Minister Ben-Gvir has decreed an absolute ban on displaying Palestinian flags, calling them a "symbol of terrorism".
- Until now, similar bans had in fact already been in place, but limited in time and scope. An absolute ban had never previously been announced.
- Ben-Gvir is the most extremist figure in an already highly radical government. He has previous convictions for terrorism and racism.
Palestinian flags will no longer be permitted to be displayed in Israel. This is what Israeli Public Security Minister Ben-Gvir has established, having recently taken up his post in Benjamin Netanyahu's new extremist government. The measure comes in response to a Palestinian demonstration in the Israeli city of Arara held to celebrate the release of a Palestinian prisoner, which the Tel Aviv authorities regarded as an affront.
Against Palestinian flags
On 5 January, Karim Younis, a Palestinian with Israeli citizenship, finished serving his sentence and was released from Israeli prison. Younis had been sentenced to death, a sentence later commuted to 40 years' imprisonment, for killing an Israeli soldier in 1980 during clashes in the occupied Golan territory.
Younis is a symbol for the Palestinian people. His sentence was considered excessive from the outset, and Palestinian authorities and civil society had long been making their voices heard in favour of an early release, including within the context of the frequent prisoner-exchange agreements between Israel and Palestine. In the end, Younis served his sentence in full, and his release was greeted with jubilation both in Palestinian territory and in Israel. In Arara, his hometown located north of Tel Aviv, a demonstration was held to celebrate the release, during which numerous Palestinian flags were waved. And the new Israeli government, considered the most far-right extremist in history, viewed this as an affront.
Stealing the joy of Palestinians;
lsraeli occupation forces storm into a tent set for celebrating the freedom of Karim Younis, who spent 40 years in the occupation jails, to take down flags of Palestine.
lsraeli occupation forces storm into a tent set for celebrating the freedom of Karim Younis, who spent 40 years in the occupation jails, to take down flags of Palestine.
Acting on a request from the chief of police, Israeli Public Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has decreed an absolute ban on displaying Palestinian flags, calling them a "symbol of terrorism". Until now, similar bans had in fact already been in place, but limited in time and scope. An absolute ban on Palestinian flags had never previously been announced.
Who is Itamar Ben-Gvir
Ben-Gvir's iron fist comes as no surprise, given that the Israeli Public Security Minister is the most extremist figure in an already highly radical government.
Ben-Gvir is a lawyer of Iraqi origin who grew up and was educated in the Israeli settlements in Palestine. There he became involved with the extremist party Kach, which in 1994 was dissolved by the Tel Aviv government for being considered a terrorist political body. Otzma Yehudit, the far-right party of which Ben-Gvir is leader, is a kind of ideological godchild of Kach. The current Public Security Minister kept a portrait of Baruch Goldstein in his living room — the mass murderer who in 1994 killed 29 Palestinian Muslim worshippers in Hebron. More broadly, Ben-Gvir has never shied away from expressing racist views against Muslims, and in 2007 he was convicted of terrorism and incitement to racism. Among his long-standing political projects is the deportation of Palestinians from their lands.
Israeli far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has ordered the state's police commissioner to enforce a directive to remove Palestinian flags from public spaces a day after one was waved at an Israeli-led anti-government protest in Tel Aviv.
In recent days, Ben-Gvir's actions had already caused tensions, following his visit to the Temple Mount, the site sacred to Muslims, which was regarded as a political provocation. In 2000, a similar episode — the visit by Israeli Prime Minister Sharon to the same site — triggered the second Palestinian intifada.