As an Israeli High Court hearing got underway on the decision of police to ban an antiwar rally scheduled for late Saturday, police announced that they had reversed their decision, and would allow the rally to proceed as planned.
Police initially has said they would only allow the protest to take place if organizers would guarantee that none of the attendees would bring a Palestinian flag. Activists argued that there was no legal basis for doing so, and that though they hadn’t planned on bringing any flags to the rally they couldn’t be sure that in a public rally no one would bring one. Their view appears to have been supported by the court. Justice Asher Grunis remarked that the only thing the police had succeeded in was giving more publicity to the rally, adding that the flags of the Palestinian Authority are raised in numerous places across Israel.
Not everyone is happy however. Attorney Guy Ofir feels that the protesters “are crossing the line by waving enemy flags.” The self-described leftist plans to hold a “counter-demonstration supporting Israel” a block away from the antiwar rally, at the same time.