I hope that just as Otzma Yehudit members did not show up for the coalition votes in protest, or irritation, or tantrum, so too the good part of the coalition members will not come to support them in voting on an amendment to the law prohibiting the flying of the flag of a "hostile entity."
Of all the laws and finger clauses in the eye that the current coalition is telling, this is the law that perhaps should turn on a red light for right-wingers. Here we are really approaching the threshold of a significant, painful restriction of freedom of expression and protest. Here we are not only keeping our mouths shut, but incriminating the members of our company. It's a law that suffocates the lifeblood of liberal democracy. It is surprising that few, if any, right-wingers viewed him from the point of view of freedom and democratic culture.
Here it is allowed to shout, photo: Coco
Blood deprivation
This is a bill submitted by MK Almog Cohen of Otzma Yehudit, whose practical purpose is to prohibit the public flying of the flag of the PLO, or the Palestinian Authority, or Palestine – anyone will choose according to his ideological leanings. Single person or couple - nice. But three or more people waving the green, red, black-and-white flag on a street horn would already be considered a "forbidden gathering."
This is a proposal that has been attempted in the past. Last time, an almost identical bill was submitted by May Golan. In the meantime, she has become a minister, and the torch is now carried by MK Almog Cohen, whose proposal passed a preliminary reading this week.
What you need to know is that a similar prohibition already exists, and it is an integral part of the Anti-Terrorism Law (2016). "Anyone who commits an act of identification with a terrorist organization, including by waving a flag, is sentenced to three years in prison." The PLO, it should be noted, is still formally designated as a terrorist organization, but the legal system recognizes the complexity of its status as a party to security negotiations and cooperation. Enforcement, in the case of the PLO flag, does not take place.
PLO flag at demonstration in Haifa,
Now certain Knesset members on the right want to ensure enforcement by adding the illegal assembly clause, and another criterion: the flags of entities that do not recognize the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state are also forbidden to fly. The explanatory notes to the bill in its previous incarnation emphasized the difference between legitimate and illegitimate protest; On the face of it, a reasonable distinction for a government whose authority must be enforced. But the dividing line between "legitimate" and "illegitimate" in the context of the PLO flag is, for lack of another word, manipulative.
This is the stage at which the discussion must be cleared of emotions and private status: it would not be a mistake to define the PLO, the Palestinian Authority or "Palestine" as hostile entities that carry out terror, incite terrorism, and even pay the families of terrorists. These afflictions permeate the PLO establishment, including the one with which Israel maintains ongoing contacts and cooperation.
And it is also true, and of course tragic, that there are people among us whose hearts are pierced by the sight of the flag as a symbol of trauma, injury, loss or bereavement. For the sake of the Palestinian national project, in the name of this flag, thousands of Israelis were murdered in terror attacks.
But the incrimination of flag-wavers suffers from a serious failure of irrelevance because, for many of them, the Palestinian flag symbolizes exactly the opposite. It symbolizes recognition of the legitimacy of the Palestinian national demand, it symbolizes an aspiration for negotiations with the more familiar and moderate Palestinian leadership, and it mainly symbolizes support for the solution of two nation-states living side by side. And these three are still positions that can be supported in the Israeli political space.
What the law does is not only criminalize demonstrators – it also attributes to political opponents support for violence on the verge of incitement. It effectively marks them as emotionally and ideologically identified with a "hostile entity." Even worse: as those who express solidarity with terror attacks and empathize with the murder of Israelis. And this needs to be proven really, really well, before ordering them a patrol car.
Because anyone who has stepped out of his talkback comfort zone, and whose circle of friends includes left-wing demonstrators, knows that this is a false accusation bordering on a blood libel. I can disagree with them, I can criticize them for insensitivity, for cheap provocation, and I can also argue that they are naïve. But their ideological position is permissible, it is legitimate, and it is also essential for the existence of a vibrant public arena. They are allowed to express it, and it is in our interest to be exposed to it, including through means that challenge the sensitivity of the Israeli mainstream.
Didn't we learn anything?
Their silencing and criminalization is not only an excessive infringement of freedom of expression, and not only a slander that almost leaves their blood – it is also a politically reckless act. What good will come from the well-publicized arrest shows, from the army of martyrs who will stand up to wave the PLO flag – to be arrested and enter the Book of Chronicles as noble fighters for freedom of expression and cultural heroes in the face of an oppressive and oppressive regime?
What kind of face does this make for the country – and what kind of image does it create for the right? Haven't we learned anything from the boomerang effect of the "traitor Smolans" campaigns? Time and time again, the populist right falls into the mirror trap. "What the historic left has done to the right," its heroes tell themselves, "we will be locked to the left."
This is not governance. This is not law and order. This is unnecessary and anti-democratic silencing, stemming from a childhood complex of low self-confidence and fear of confrontation. This mainly attests to the lack of internalization of the ideological dominance of the ideas of the political right in Israeli society. It's time to grow up; Rightists don't want leftists or Arabs in Zinzana. They want confident leaders and legislators in their own ways and in themselves, who will do right, instead of humiliating the left.
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