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Israeli police cut Palestinian flag from lecturer's kippah after detaining him
https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel">Israeli police detained a man wearing a kippah featuring both https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/palestine">Palestinian and Israeli flags, then released him after cutting out the Palestinian flag, local media https://www.haaretz.co.il/news/law/2026-04-23/ty-article/.premium/0000019d-ba6e-ded5-abdd-be6e2a2b0000">reported on Thursday.
The incident took place on Monday in Modi'in, central Israel.
The man, Alex Sinclair, a lecturer at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, described the encounter in a Facebook https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17yLVoGnj4/">post, saying his kippah - a traditional Jewish head covering - was damaged by police.
"I was sitting in my local cafe in Modi'in," Sinclair said, adding that as he was working on his computer, "a religious man came over to me with an angry face and shouted at me that my kippah is against the law".
"For the past twenty years, almost, I've worn a kippah that has both the Israeli flag and the Palestinian flag on it," Sinclair said, adding that he told the man it was not illegal and suggested talking about it.
Still, the man refused and threatened Sinclair that he would call the police.
To the lecturer's surprise, "five minutes later, the police arrive.
Two officers, and they immediately tell me that my kippah is against the law and that they are going to confiscate it".
According to Sinclair's account, the police officers frisked him, before putting him in a police station cell for about 20 minutes. "As I was released from custody, the police shoved my backpack into my arms and told me to go - without my kippah".
When he asked for it back, an officer later returned it with the Palestinian flag cut out.
"She'd taken my possession, a religious ritual object, something that is very dear to my heart, and destroyed it," he wrote, sharing before-and-after images of the kippah.
He said the experience left him "shaken, angry and depressed", warning that it reflected a broader erosion of civil liberties.
"It's hard not to say that this is the kind of thing that fascist regimes do," he said. "It's hard not to feel worried and anxious and frankly devastated that this is the direction that Israel is moving in."
Crackdown on Palestinian flags
Since the current government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took office in 2022, the display of the Palestinian flag - in both public and private spaces - has faced increasing restrictions.
The campaign has been led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who in January 2023 https://www.acri.org.il/post/__872">ordered police to remove Palestinian flags from public spaces.
Last month, Haaretz https://www.haaretz.co.il/news/law/2026-03-12/ty-article/.premium/0000019c-de44-d3be-a7fd-ffd4208a0000">reported that the police arrested a Palestinian woman who is an Israeli citizen for displaying the flag inside her home.
Her family said that "she was made to step on a Palestinian flag and hold up an Israeli flag".
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Sinclair said Ben Gvir's "unlawful" crackdown has escalated to the point where the Palestinian flag was being "banned from my head - my kippah, my religious identity itself".
Police said a complaint had been filed with the Police Internal Investigations Department, but declined further comment.
Gilad Kariv, a member of Israel's parliament, the Knesset, from the opposition Democrats party, https://x.com/KarivGilad/status/2047329972428141042?s=20">said on X: "If police officers were to cut off a Jewish man's kippah in any other country in the world, there would be an outrage here."
Kariv added that the incident "points to a profound institutional failure within the Israeli police", adding that some police officers "completely lost their professional ethos, their commitment to serving the public, and their loyalty to the law".
"The officers' conduct justifies the opening of a criminal investigation and the filing of a civil lawsuit," Kariv said.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), a civil and human rights organisation, joined Kariv in calling for an investigation of the incident.
"Once again, the Israel Police is acting in line with the minister's agenda and contrary to the law," the ACRI https://x.com/acrionline/status/2047395012955013540?s=20">said in a statement, referring to Ben Gvir.
"This is sheer madness and absurdity, and a serious violation of autonomy, freedom of expression, liberty, freedom of religion, and dignity.
There is no legal ban on displaying the Palestinian flag or its various forms in the public sphere," the ACRI added.