On Sunday, the Knesset's Ministerial Legislative Committee approved draft legislation submitted by the opposition that would make it illegal to fly the PLO flag at any educational institution that is state-funded.
Furthermore, it was agreed at the Committee meeting that when the bill comes to a vote in the Knesset plenum, all parties will be free to vote their conscience, to the chagrin of the Ra'am (United Arab List) party.
During the Committee's discussion, Construction Minister Zeev Elkin (New Hope) quarreled with Environmental Protection Minister Tamar Zandberg (Meretz), who expressed her opposition to the bill, saying, "No one cares if people fly flags at the universities." Elkin responded, "It bothers the students a lot, and it also concerns the families of terrorist victims to see PLO flags flying, when they know that the PLO is paying out huge stipends to the murderers of their loved ones."
Meanwhile, the Knesset Education Committee also met and during its discussions, the president of Ben Gurion University referred to the flying of Palestinian flags at his institution last week.
"Our campuses are not detached from Israeli society," he said. "They reflect what is going on in the country, and first and foremost are security concerns. But we have no violence and no racism on our campus. This year, we had two requests submitted, by right-wing and left-wing student groups wanting to hold demonstrations. We had learned our lesson from the previous year and managed to create dialogue between them such that both demonstrations concluded without any displays of violence," he added.
"The request that was submitted did not mention the flying of Palestinian flags," he added, "but doing so was not illegal and we could not, therefore, remove them. We acted in accordance with the law and we followed the recommendation of the Justice Ministry. If you think that the law should be changed then you are of course free to do so. It is not within our power to do so, even though this issue pains me and many others.
"Our university displays and will continue to display zero tolerance for incitement against the State of Israel," he stressed, "and zero tolerance for anyone who supports terrorism or revolt. There was nothing of the kind to be seen at the demonstration concerned. We are operating in complex circumstances, both demographically and geographically, and we endeavor to set an example of living in harmony. Toward this end we need your assistance, and not your condemnation."