Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) flags were waved on Friday during a protest in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in eastern Jerusalem.
According to Israeli media reports, police officers who were on hand did not take away the PLO flags, despite National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s directive from earlier this week.
Channel 12 News reported that among those present at Friday’s demonstration were MK Ofer Cassif (Hadash-Ta'al) who wrapped himself in a PLO flag, and former Meretz MK Mossi Raz, who said, "Here in Sheikh Jarrah the Israeli flag will be raised - at the Israeli embassy in Palestine that will be established here."
The flags were waved despite the fact that Ben Gvir on Sunday instructed Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai to order the police to remove any such flags from public places and to stop any incitement against the State of Israel.
The Minister delivered to the Office of the Commissioner of Police an order which said that every police officer of any rank, during their shift, will be permitted to remove PLO flags.
Ben Gvir passed the order to the Commissioner based on the fact that flying the PLO flag is considered support for a terrorist organization.
The directive from Ben Gvir followed the celebrations of the release of terrorist Karim Younes, in which PLO flags were raised.
According to Channel 12 News, Hadash-Ta'al appealed to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara on Thursday, a day before Friday’s demonstration, requesting that she tell Commissioner Shabtai that "the minister's order to prevent the waving of Palestinian flags is illegal and forbidden, and should not be enforced."
The party claimed that "Ben Gvir’s order is inconsistent with the ruling of the Supreme Court and the binding instructions of the Attorney General."
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)