Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s new far-right Minister of National Security, has ordered police to remove Palestinian flags from public locations. Police and military can remove Palestinian flags if they threaten public order under Israeli legislation. Sunday’s edict from Ben-Gvir, who heads the ultranationalist Jewish Power party in Benjamin Netanyahu’s new far-right administration and commands the police, signals a harsh and uncompromising approach toward Palestinian manifestations of identity, free speech, and pro-Palestinian marches.
Israeli authorities have traditionally repressed the display of the Palestinian flag, which Palestinians see as an attempt to stifle their identity. Ben-directives Gvir’s followed a Saturday anti-government rally in Tel Aviv, when some protesters raised the Palestinian flag. Protesters called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new cabinet “fascist” and demanded Palestinian-Israeli equality and harmony. Netanyahu called the Palestinian flag’s appearance at the Tel Aviv rally “wild provocation” Ben-instruction Gvir’s followed the release last week of a Palestinian prisoner convicted of kidnapping and murdering an Israeli soldier in 1983. He hoisted a Palestinian flag while enjoying a hero’s welcome in his northern Israeli community. Ben-Gvir stated displaying the Palestinian flag supports “terrorism.” “It can’t be that lawbreakers wave terrorist flags, provoke, and encourage terrorism, thus I ordered the removal of banners promoting terrorism from public space and to cease inciting against Israel,” Ben-Gvir stated. About one-fifth of Israel’s population is Palestinian, and majority are descendants of Palestinians who stayed after the 1948 Nakba, or tragedy. Pre-1948 Palestine’s predominant population was Palestinian. They’ve long contested their role in Israel’s politics, reconciling their Palestinian origin with Israeli citizenship. Most identify as or with the Palestinians.
Many Palestinians in Israel and the occupied territories dread the incoming government’s policy towards them due to the presence of far-right settler organizations, with Ben-Gvir convicted of inciting bigotry against Arabs. The Israeli government revoked Riad al-travel Malki’s permission on Sunday and withheld $39m in Palestinian Authority income on Friday. The rulings were made to punish Palestinians for seeking the ICJ to rule on the unlawful Israeli occupation.
