Flag-Burning to Cost More

YERUSHALAYIM

A bill for more serious punishments for burning an Israeli flag was approved by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday, The Jerusalem Post reported.

The bill would update the fine currently on the books in a currency no longer in use – 300 lira, worth about 10 agorot, or 3 cents, today – to 50,000 shekels. It also proposes upping the maximum prison sentence for burning a flag from one year to three.

The bill’s author, MK Nava Boker (Likud), stated that the change is needed in the current wave of terror violence.
Although the committee passed those provisions, others were deleted by the Justice Ministry as going too far, such as disqualifying flag burners from unemployment benefits or government-funded scholarships.

Boker insisted that such deterrents are needed, and “the Justice Ministry still does not realize we are at war.”

“Whoever burns a flag must pay the price and not receive benefits,” she stated. “At the same time, I think enforcing the prison sentence will deter flag-burners and stop the inciting demonstrations among Israeli Arabs.”

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