Anyone who has ever visited Jerusalem can attest to the omnipresence of the Palestinian flag in Israel’s capital. Indeed, the Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) banner can be seen at pro-Palestinian protests, on t-shirts sold in the Old City, and even at the entrance of some taxpayer-funded Israeli hospitals in Arab-majority neighborhoods.
Furthermore, before the last round of peace talks fell apart over Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas’ efforts to reconcile with the US-designated Hamas terror group, the Palestinian flag was repeatedly put on display at then-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence and in the halls of Israel’s parliament, the Knesset.
More recently, in April of this year, as the Jewish state faced the deadliest terror wave in over a decade, the Palestinian flag flew over the Temple Mount for more than ten days. Asked why the Israeli government turned a blind eye to this clear violation of the status quo at the flashpoint holy site, Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel was quoted by local media as saying, “We don’t fight flags. We fight terrorism, and I don’t want to divert attention to some flag.”
And yet The New York Times told its readers in a July 30 piece that the Palestinian flag is “practically absent” from the streets of the capital and that Arab residents of the city are somehow “unable to erect their flag at their homes.”
Seemingly, NYT correspondent Raja Abdulrahim didn’t even bother to take a stroll through Jerusalem — or, more likely, she is deliberately misleading the publication’s ten million subscribers to suit her anti-Israel narrative.
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Freedom of Speech vs. Palestinian Incitement to Terror
Abdulrahim’s 1,400-word report, titled ‘Palestinian Flags Aren’t Illegal in Israel. They Still Get Torn Down,’ posits that “when the second Palestinian intifada broke out in 2000, Israel’s suppression of the uprising included a crackdown on expressions of Palestinian identity, among them the flag.”
Citing the radical anti-Israel NGO Adalah and other unnamed “rights groups,” the NYT then contends that “in the absence of a law banning the flag, Israeli police have used other ordinances, including public disorder laws, to arrest and charge Palestinians who raise the banner.”
By failing to mention that the second Palestinian “uprising” was a five-year terror campaign that killed over 1,000 innocent Israelis while injuring thousands more, Abdulrahim again exposes her deep animosity towards the Jewish state. As HonestReporting outlined at the time of her hiring, the Times correspondent once blamed Israel for Palestinian suicide bombings and has argued that the “occupation” began with the country’s founding in 1948.
In line with her previous work, Abdulrahim’s latest piece is riddled with falsehoods and justifications for Palestinian violence. In fact, the central tenet of the July 30 essay, that Israel is “attempting to criminalize certain aspects of the collective Palestinian identity,” is demonstrably false.
Rather, much like other democracies, Jerusalem is attempting to thread a fine line between protecting freedom of speech and stopping PA- and Hamas-led incitement to terrorism that has the very real potential to inflame deadly tensions in the holy city and beyond.
Israel allows Palestinian flags all over Israeli cities: Jerusalem, Lod, Acre, Tel-Aviv. The protestors are calling for the abolishment of the State of Israel.
No democracy in Israel? Apartheid?In which undemocratic state can people call for abolishment of the state freely? pic.twitter.com/tE80uPmcCM
— Jenny Aharon ג׳ני אהרון (@jenny_aharon) May 19, 2022
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Raja Abdulrahim’s Baseless Anti-Israel Smears
In the NYT article, Raja Abdulrahim uses an incident from May 29 — Jerusalem Day, arguably the tensest time of the year — to illustrate her point that Israel is “seeking to crack down on expressions of Palestinian nationalism”:
A few blocks away, where dozens of Palestinians had gathered for a counterprotest to the right-wing Jewish rally [sic], police officers charged at a group of people waving Palestinian flags, and fired smoke grenades at them, according to video from the scene.”
Under article 82 of Israel’s Police Ordinance, security forces have the authority to temporarily restrict “the flying, exhibition or display of any flag or emblem likely to excite a disturbance of the peace.” Notably, similar regulations exist in European countries like Germany and The Netherlands.
Video footage uploaded to Arabic-language social media channels (see here and here) shows that the “protesters” were not just “waving Palestinian flags” on May 29. In reality, they had just violently attacked officers tasked with crowd control. Moreover, following the events on Salah Ad-din Street, Hamas spokesperson Mohammed Hamada praised the rioters, with Palestinian media reporting that the group had chanted slogans calling on the terror group to fire missiles at Tel Aviv.
None of this is disclosed in Abdulrahim’s hit piece.
In another baseless accusation, The New York Times slams Israel for what it describes as “shocking scenes at the funeral of the Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.” Readers are left uninformed that the Al Jazeera reporter’s burial ceremony, which saw Jerusalem flooded with Palestinian banners, was hijacked by extremists chanting pro-terrorist slogans, including the battle cry, “We sacrifice our blood and spirit for you, Shireen.”
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Certainly, freedom of expression should only be limited as a last resort, but Abdulrahim’s report entirely disregards the violence perpetrated by some carrying the Palestinian flag.
“When a Palestinian tries to raise a Palestinian flag, he is met with violence,” one “human rights lawyer” cited in the article says. The facts prove the complete opposite.
Will the NYT, presented with the truth, admit they got this wrong?
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Featured Image: Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
