Jerusalem
JerusalemFlash 90

The Jerusalem Municipality filed a court request for an injunction against an event commemorating the "Nakba", to be held in the Barbour Gallery, located in a public building.

The Municipality says in its urgent request of the court that the Barbour Gallery is holding property illegally as an intruder and trespasser and as a result, the Municipality is conducting legal proceedings against it.

The petition refers to a book launching event that will soon be held in a building owned by the Municipality for a book called Nakba in Hebrew, a Political Journal in cooperation with Zochrot, an organization whose declared purpose is to denounce the Zionist movement, the State of Israel, and the IDF.

Nakba observance

Flash 90


In the petition, the Municipality notes, "This is not the first time the Barbour Gallery has held truculent, political, and forbidden events, infringing on the municipal structure it illegally holds. There seem to be no limits to the depths to which the organization brings matters. It started with a blow to the memory of IDF fallen in the previous event, and now they present the State of Israel and the IDF as racists implementing a policy of apartheid against the Arab population."

The Municipality further notes that recently, in a ruling on the occasion of the commemoration of the 68th anniversary of the Nakba, Be'er Sheva Court of Administrative Affairs Judge Eliahu Bitan explicitly stated that it is impossible to approve mentioning and publicizing the Nakba narrative in public property together with its condemnation of the State of Israel and the Zionist movement as war criminals. The judge therefore authorized cancellation of an allocation to an organization using a building not in accordance with the allocation's purpose.

In the petition, the Municipality asks the court to put an end once and for all to the "illegal, defiant, divisive, disruptive, unreasonable, and clearly illegal conduct" in property owned by the Municipality and the public.