A racist Israeli law criminalizes raising the Palestinian flag

Written by: Attorney Ali Abu Hilal

In a step that reflects the consolidation of the apartheid regime and apartheid in the Israeli political system, the Knesset Plenary Assembly approved, last Wednesday, 1/6/2022, in a preliminary reading, a bill banning the raising of the Palestinian flag in institutions funded by the Israeli occupation government, including universities. With the support of 63 Knesset members and the opposition of 16

The Prime Minister of the occupation government, Naftali Bennett, and the right-wing deputies in the Israeli government coalition voted in favor of the law proposed by the Likud Party, headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, knowing that the opposition refuses to vote in favor of the laws of the coalition, including laws of a security nature.

Following the vote on the law, Netanyahu said, in a video statement accompanied by the initiator of the bill, Knesset member Eli Cohen (Likud), "Today the Israeli flag won; we are bringing Israel back to the right." He added, "We passed the law with a majority." Overwhelming, the flag law, this is an important day for the State of Israel and for the future of the Jewish state.” Cohen said that the ratification of the law is “an important step to restore sovereignty. In the State of Israel there is only one national flag.”

This racist step comes in light of the escalating Israeli aggression against the Palestinian flag, as the Israeli occupation forces suppress all activities that witness the raising of the Palestinian flag in the 48 areas and the occupied city of Jerusalem and the West Bank, while terrorist settlers have launched, for days, attacks on villages and towns. Palestinian vehicles pass through it, and they work to remove Palestinian flags from its streets

The raising of Palestinian flags at Tel Aviv and Ben Gurion Universities in Beersheba, in two demonstrations organized by Arab students on the occasion of the Nakba, aroused the ire of the right inside the government and in the opposition, who made racist statements against Arabs and Palestinians.

Earlier, the municipality of Ramat Gan lowered a banner that included the flags of Palestine and Israel, which were hung as a propaganda banner, and written on it in both Arabic and Hebrew that "our future is to live together", in a central location in the city overlooking the network of central "Ayalon" streets. The Israeli media caused an uproar following the hanging of the banner, which was installed against the background of the Knesset vote on the bill banning the raising of Palestinian flags in government-funded institutions, especially in educational institutions, in retaliation for raising the Palestinian flag at the universities of Beersheba and Tel Aviv. ..

Commenting on the two demonstrations in Beersheba and Tel Aviv; The Israeli Minister of Finance, Avigdor Lieberman, said that he is considering withdrawing budgets from Ben-Gurion University because of its authorization for the demonstration of Arab students to commemorate the Nakba. Prof. Daniel Haimovich, for organizing the event commemorating the Nakba

With the preliminary approval of the law, it will be discussed in one of the Knesset committees to prepare a final version for it and put it through three readings in the committee as well as in the plenary for its approval and promulgation so that it becomes a binding and enforceable law. ‏

The masses of our Palestinian people in the Palestinian territories in 1948 rejected the draft law, and the student movements considered attempts to enact the law as an expression of political bankruptcy and the escalation of fascism and racism towards Palestinian Arab students in universities, and the Palestinian Arab minority in general in the country, and emphasized that the Palestinian flag is a national symbol. Through raising it and commemorating the Nakba and other national activities, we aim to consolidate the idea that a just solution to the Palestinian cause will not be without recognizing the historical injustice that befell the Palestinian people in 1948, stressing that preventing the raising of the Palestinian flag is a denial of all international conventions and norms, and an infringement of freedom Expression, freedom of demonstration and freedom of thought. ‏

Commenting on the law, Representative Ayman Odeh, head of the Joint List, said, “This is the flag of the Palestinian people, raised by thousands of children on the anniversary of the Nakba every year, and this is what scares you. From today onwards, you will see the flag of Palestine more and more.”

The Palestinian flag has become a symbol and a title for the entire Palestinian people, both inside the homeland Palestine and in the countries of emigration, asylum and diaspora, and this is what the Israeli occupation, apartheid and apartheid regime cannot tolerate. That is why we find attempts by Israel, the "occupying power", to criminalize and punish those who raise it in mass rallies, even if It was on the coffins of the martyrs, and this reflects the escalation and growth of racism and hatred towards the Palestinian people, their flag and their identity with the occupation government, and its legislative, executive, judicial, military and security institutions, as well as the herds of settlers and extremist right-wing terrorist groups. ‏

* Lawyer and university lecturer in international law