Oren Hazan
Oren HazanHadas Parush/Flash 90

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday approved the “Flag Law'' initiated by Likud MK Oren Hazan, which requires placing the country's flag at every public event attended by a government minister or member of Knesset.

According to Hazan, a nation, to affirm its own existence, must honor and maintain its symbols, and the flag is one of the most prominent and distinctive of such symbols. “Unfortunately,” noted Hazan, the flag icon has in recent times been trampled on."

MK Hazan proposed the law following an incident that occurred in New York. The Israeli flag was removed from the stage at a Haaretz conference after senior Palestinian Authority official Saeb Erekat rise set its removal as a condition for him to speak at the conference. President Rivlin also spoke at the conference.

"The insults to our flag have not been limited to the Haaretz newspaper," said Hazan. ''Two months ago, police prevented activists from entering a festival in Haifa with a flag during the performance of a radical Arab rapper at the festival. It is time to restore our dignity and national pride.”

He added that, “I’ve heard that the Arab Joint List members have announced that they will not respect the [new] law. It is clear to me that Tibi, Odeh and friends would prefer to wrap themselves with Hamas or ISIS flags. They will not respect the flag law, they do not respect the muezzin law, they do not respect the anthem. What do they do? They call for Israeli and Palestinian Arabs to rebel and protest.”

The preliminary vote in the Knesset will take place on Wednesday.