Text Size

Email Post

Print Post

Comments (28)

Save Article

Jerusalem - An ultra-Orthodox yeshiva student indicted for flag-burning has asked that the charges be dropped as protected freedom of expression. The student’s lawyer also told the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court that the law, as it stands today, is effectively a dead letter as it doesn’t specify intent to dishonor the flag - and so many Israeli citizens effectively break the law on a daily basis without ever being charged.

According to police, Yehiel Hazan, a 20-year-old Neturei Karta yeshiva student from Jerusalem, burned the national flag on Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day ), during a demonstration in the city’s Shabbat Square. The police prosecution service charged Hazan with desecrating the flag and with rioting the following day. According to the indictment, Hazan held the flag up on a pole and set it on fire, and later stamped on it along with others.

Hazan’s attorney Yair Nehorai asked the court to drop the charges. “Although no one disagrees that the burning of the Israeli flag is a hurtful, insulting and provocative act, the court is requested to rule that the offense to public sensibilities as described in the indictment is not grave enough to stand up to the criteria allowing infringement on freedom of speech,” the lawyer wrote. “In balancing the values of freedom of expression and public sensibilities, freedom of expression clearly takes precedence.”

Nehorai reminded the court that when Chaim Miller, while deputy mayor of Jerusalem, described the flag as “a stick with a blue and white rag on it,” the Attorney General at the time decided not to indict him, a decision that was upheld by the Supreme Court.

“Clearly, the enforcement of offenses of this kind should be extremely rare, if at all,” said Bar-Ilan University constitutional law professor Ariel Bendor. “I don’t think the law should be enforced even if the offense was carried out with a clear intention to desecrate the flag to deliberately offend people or demonstrate a lack of patriotism - but not in the context of incitement and trying to cause rioting.”

Bendor said the case raises questions of selective enforcement, as the law is not usually enforced even when the desecration of flag is intentional.

Nehorai also argued before the court that many Israelis inadvertently break the law every day - for example, by mistakenly raising a torn or damaged flag, or by stepping on flags on the street on days like Independence Day. Dirty and ragged flags can often be seen in government institutions, even in courts, the student’s lawyer said.

Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court Judge Dov Pollock is expected to address Hazan’s request shortly. Nehorai said he will appeal to the District Court if the charges are not dropped.

More of today's headlines

“Brooklyn, NY - They are a familiar sight around the lake in Prospect Park in Brooklyn: Canada geese, scores of them. To some residents of nearby neighborhoods, the birds...” Brooklyn, NY - For Air Safety, 400 Prospect Park Geese Are Killed “Washington - The White House is contradicting the NASA administrator's claim that President Barack Obama assigned him to reach out to Muslims on science matters. NASA...” Washington - White House Denies NASA Remark On Muslim Outreach