Police raid left-wing activists’ club in Arab-Israeli city, seize Palestinian flags on eve of May Day march

A masked police officer confiscates a Palestinian flag from a Hadash party club in Umm al-Fahm on 1 May 2026

Jack Khoury reports in Haaretz on 2 May 2026:

Masked police officers raided a meetup club for young Hadash party activists in the Arab-Israeli city of Umm al-Fahm on Friday and confiscated Palestinian flags from the site.

Hadash, a joint Arab-Jewish party, and the Israeli Communist Party said police, who are shown in the video with their faces covered, seized the flags and left without identifying themselves and without presenting a search warrant. The parties, who run a joint slate, said the incident is not unusual as police often take similar measures ahead of major public events. On Saturday, party activists are expected to participate in a May Day demonstration in Nazareth.

Party activists who were present during the raid asked the police to stop, but did not resist the officers’ actions. Shortly after the raid, many party members arrived at the club, including former Knesset Member Yousef Jabareen. “This is a provocative, thuggish measure lacking any legal basis,” the former lawmaker said, adding that it is part of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s policy to “silence and suppress the freedom of expression.”

Hadash MK Ofer Cassif sent a letter to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara requesting that she open an immediate investigation into the incident. “The very act of breaking into a legal political party club on the eve of a legal protest march has a serious chilling effect on the freedom of speech and the freedom to organize,” he said, adding that the confiscation of Palestinian flags is “an arbitrary act with no legal basis, given the fact that it is a flag whose display is entirely legal.”

In response to Haaretz’s request for comment, the police said its forces in Umm al-Fahm work to maintain “security and public order in the area to ensure public safety” and that “the circumstances of the incident will be investigated.”

Hadash and the Israeli Communist Party emphasized that the raid will not deter their activities and that they will continue to act to ensure widespread participation in Saturday’s demonstration.

Since Ben-Gvir assumed the role of national security minister – and although the High Court of Justice has yet to rule on the legality of displaying the Palestinian flag – police have increasingly suppressed any display of the flag. Just last week, the police banned the flag’s display in a march to commemorate Nakba Day, leading to the event’s cancellation for the second year in a row.

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