Israel's national security Minister bans Palestine flag-flying in public
The Hindu
Itamar Ben-Gvir’s order follows a series of other punitive steps against the Palestinians since taking office late last month.
Israel’s national security minister has ordered police to ban Palestine flags from public places in the latest crackdown by the country’s new hard-line government.
Itamar Ben-Gvir’s order follows a series of other punitive steps against the Palestinians since taking office late last month.
“Today I directed the Israel Police to enforce the prohibition of flying any PLO flag that shows identification with a terrorist organization from the public sphere and to stop any incitement against the State of Israel,” Ben-Gvir announced on Twitter.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government has moved quickly against the Palestinians in retaliation for Palestine’s push for the U.N.’s highest judicial body to give its opinion on Israel’s 55-year military occupation of the West Bank.
It has withheld nearly $40 million in Palestine tax revenues and said it will transfer the money to victims of Palestine militant attacks, stripped Palestine officials of VIP privileges and even broke up a meeting of Palestinian parents discussing their children’s education, claiming it was unlawfully funded by the Palestinian Authority.
Ben-Gvir, a far-right firebrand known for his anti-Arab rhetoric, drew widespread international condemnation when he visited Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site last week.
The repeated moves have the potential to increase tensions after the deadliest year of the Israel-Palestine conflict in nearly two decades, according to a report by the Israeli rights group B’Tselem.
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