Will students go to jail? Ministers to discuss a law banning the waving of Palestinian flags on campuses

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation announced that later today (Sunday), the coalition will discuss MK Nissim Vaturi's bill to prohibit the waving of Palestinian flags within universities.

According to the proposed law, two or more people will not be able to wave enemy flags, including the flag of the Palestinian Authority, within institutions supported or funded by the state. Additionally, it will be possible to disperse the gathering and even punish the demonstrators with a one-year prison sentence and a minimum fine of 10,000 shekels.

As a reminder, in recent years, the phenomenon of students waving Palestinian flags within universities has become prevalent. In May of last year, the President of Tel Aviv University, Professor Ariel Porat, reacted sharply to a similar bill proposed by MK Limor Son Har-Melech, which stipulates that a student who expresses support for a terrorist organization or waves the Palestinian flag or the flag of an enemy state will be suspended for a period of no less than one month.

In a message he sent to the faculty members, Prof. Porat wrote: "The Palestinian Authority is neither an enemy state nor a terrorist organization. The prohibition on waving the Palestinian flag will be unconstitutional, and Tel Aviv University will not see itself obligated to act accordingly." Later, he also called on the ministers and the legal advisor to the government to prevent, in his words, "the transformation of this fascist bill into law."