Over the past 30 years, the sight of the Palestine Liberation Organization's flag has become all too common. Even though it represents a hostile entity, it gets hoisted in Jerusalem, in the Negev, and in the Galilee. Its graffiti appears on roads nationwide. It is also part of many souvenirs tourists can get when they tour the Jerusalem Old City and the Nazareth outdoor market.
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It is just beyond the pale that a country that is under attack allows such a brutal enemy to pollute its public sphere, especially if that flag is used as a means of propagating more terror that hurts innocent civilians.
Those who have tried to ban have been rejected outright and told that freedom of speech allows people to show symbols that call for our annihilation. A whole host of media apologists have essentially imposed their views on a majority of Israelis who feel uncomfortable with this situation.
Because of brainwashing by radical left-wing groups who have become used to deciding for us what is democratic and what is not, Israeli authorities have given up without a fight, accepting this travesty. If a concerned citizen files a complaint with the Israel Police, the answer he gets is," This is just an expression of emotions by a minority in Israel, and since we are liberal democracy, we have to let this come out."
.But using these murderous symbols has nothing to do with democracy, and precisely because we want to keep our democratic regime intact we have to safeguard it by outlawing such action. Look at what Germany has been doing. In that country, who no one doubts cherishes liberty, the authorities banned the Russian symbols of aggression since the start of the war, including the Z.
Two states in Germany even made such display a criminal offense. The prosecution has even opened 140 criminal cases against people who have allegedly used the symbols.
Don't be fooled into thinking this is just for show. The suspects, mostly German citizens of Russian heritage, are expected to get heavy sentences, including incarceration. As far as the German authorities are concerned, there is no real reason to accommodate the feeling of the minorities.
Germany has learned firsthand what symbols can do. They know that what represents aggression and totalitarianism should not be considered free speech in a democratic and modern society.
It is not beneath Israel to learn from other more effective and wiser democracies. Israel must learn from the Germans how to eradicate the symbols of evil from the public square. If that is how things are done with regards to symbols that are temporary, like the Z, it is all the more important to act this way against older symbols, like the PLO flag. They are worse than the signs promoting the invasion because behind there is a long history of racist hatred aimed at eliminating the Jewish state.
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