New Israeli restrictions against flying the Palestinian flag are a “shameless attempt to legitimize racism”, rights group Amnesty International said Tuesday.
Israel’s new National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir ordered the police commander on Sunday to authorize officers to remove Palestinian flags flying in public spaces.
“I have instructed the Israeli police to enforce the ban on flying a PLO (Palestine Liberation Organisation) flag in public spaces, a sign of identification with a terrorist organization”, Ben-Gvir wrote on Twitter.
“We will fight terrorism and the supporters of terrorism with all our might,” he added.
Amnesty called the new measures “repressive” and an “audacious attack on the rights to nationality, freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly”, in a statement sent to AFP.
In Israel and in annexed east Jerusalem, Israeli security forces already confiscate Palestinian flags, sometimes triggering violence.
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. Please join us in celebrating the Palestinian flag. #palestine #itamarbengvir #israel #love #homeland #struggle #resistance pic.twitter.com/lWCeJbx1WN
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) January 9, 2023
(The New Arab, PC, SOCIAL)
