AL-QUDS (Dispatches) –
Bolstered restrictions against flying the Palestinian flag are “a shameless attempt to legitimize racism,” a rights group says.
the Zionist regime’s new firebrand minister Itamar Ben-Gvir ordered the police commander on Sunday to authorize officers to remove Palestinian flags flying in public spaces.
“I have instructed the Israeli police to enforce the ban on flying a PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) flag in public spaces,” Ben-Gvir wrote on Twitter.
After winning November elections, Zionist prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu formed a cabinet last month with key posts taken by far-right allies.
They include Ben-Gvir of the Jewish Power party, who has a history of inflammatory remarks about Palestinians.
Amnesty International called the new measures “repressive” and an “audacious attack on the rights to nationality, freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly,” in a statement sent to AFP.
“Israeli authorities say the directive is aimed at stopping ‘incitement’ against Israel, but it comes amid a string of measures designed to silence dissent and restrict protests, including those held in defense of Palestinian rights,” Amnesty said.
“The farcical pretexts for this directive cannot mask the fact that Israeli authorities are growing increasingly ruthless in their attempts to silence Palestinian voices,” the statement added.
Meanwhile, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) strongly condemned the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the occupied Al-Quds by Ben-Gvir, warning about the consequences of the regime’s continued assaults on the holy site.
In a press statement following an extraordinary meeting on Tuesday, the Jeddah-based intergovernmental organization denounced Ben-Gvir’s visit as a “serious provocation” and a “blatant violation of international law,” calling for imposing sanctions on the extremist minister for desecrating the sanctity of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The OIC also urged the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) “to assume its responsibilities” and “act urgently to take the necessary measures, without selectivity or double standards, to deter and stop the dangerous Israeli escalation” in East Al-Quds.
The Muslim organization went on to say that Haram al-Sharif “is an exclusive place of worship for Muslims,” and the state of Palestine has sovereignty over Al-Quds, the Old City, and all its holy sites, stressing that all measures taken by Israel to change the legal status of the city or its demographic composition are “null and void and have no legal effect.”
The OIC further warned against any Zionist assault on Al-Aqsa, “including provocations, continued abuses, and daily serious attacks by the Israeli colonial occupation authorities.”