Israel's Arab Knesset members fight bill restricting Palestinian flag
Israel’s Knesset is considering a bill banning Palestinian flags from being raised at Israeli-funded institutions and universities inside the Green Line.
RAMALLAH, West Bank — An Israeli bill banning the display of the Palestinian flag at Israeli government-funded institutions including universities passed a preliminary reading in the Knesset on June 1, with 63 votes in favor and 16 against.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennet, who is also the leader of the Israeli right-wing Yamina party, voted in favor of the bill put forward by the Likud party, headed by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Arab-Israeli students organized a sit-in on May 23 at the Tel Aviv University and Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba, in southern Israel, on the occasion of Nakba Day. The students waved the Palestinian flag and sang patriotic songs. Dozens of Israeli students held a counter-protest in response and raised Israeli flags.
Israeli security forces have recently suppressed several events where the Palestinian flag was raised and even raided homes that flew the flag in the town of Hawara near Nablus and in several Jerusalem neighborhoods. Jewish settlers attacked Palestinian vehicles that flew the flag in the streets of the West Bank.
