The High Court for the second time in three months has criticized the police for barring nationalists from marching in the Galilee city of Umm el Faham, a hotbed of Islamic Movement radicals.
State Prosecutor official Michal Tzuk said that the government intended to allow the march, which it said was postponed because of fears of violence, the latest stemming from the tense atmosphere during the election campaign.
"If you were to come across a petition of some body that wanted to protest for peace between Palestinians and Israelis while waving Israeli and PLO flags, and there were threats heard from one side or another, would you also tell them to wait until the elections?" asked Justice Edmond Levi.
The police last September denied nationalists Baruch Marzel and Itamar Gen-Gvir a permit to march in the Arab city. The activists argued they had the same right to demonstrate there as leftists and anarchists who march in Hevron and disparage the Jewish community.
The High Court upheld Marzel and Ben Gvir's appeal and rejected police arguments that carrying an Israeli flag through Umm el Fahm would be tantamount to incitement and would constitute a risk to public safety.
However, the court agreed that the planned march could be delayed until after the city's local elections last November 11. It also settled with the police and nationalists that the route would not go through the center of town.
Two months have passed and the march has not taken place. Ben Gvir and Marzel appealed again, and the court Wednesday morning reprimanded the police, who complained that a march would lead to a repeat of the October 2000 riots, in which 13 Arab were killed.
The court ordered police to allow the march but consented to a delay until six weeks following the February 10 general election.
Marzel said after the decision, "We are here to teach the police and the State Prosecutor that Umm el Faham is our land of Israel and they should enforce the law without fear."