A British Israeli academic has told the BBC of his shock at being detained by Israeli police for wearing a Jewish kippah, or head covering, embroidered with an Israeli and a Palestinian flag.
Alex Sinclair, 53, said he was taken from the cafe where he was sitting near his home in Modiin, central Israel, on Monday, ordered to hand over his kippah and locked in a cell.
He said when the item was returned to him, the part with the Palestinian flag had been cut off.
The unusual case has gained domestic and international attention after Sinclair shared the details in a social media post. Police told the BBC a complaint has been filed with their internal investigations division.
Sinclair, who is also a novelist, was working on his laptop in the cafe when, he said, a religious man came over to me with an angry face and shouted at me that my kippah is against the law.
He said he invited the man to sit down to discuss his views, but he refused and said he would call the police. Five minutes later, the police arrive, he wrote on Facebook. Two officers, and they immediately tell me that my kippah is against the law and that they are going to confiscate it.
Sinclair said he tried to explain politely that his kippah was not illegal but was taken into detention and driven by police car to the police station. He said he was forced to hand over his possessions and unable to make a phone call. Sinclair said he was then frisked and locked in a cell.
Twenty minutes later, Sinclair said, he was told he could leave but without his kippah. He said when he insisted on it being given back, the officer handed it to him with the Palestinian flag cut out. Sinclair called the incident 'surreal'.
That photo of the ripped kippah – there's something so kind of evocative about it, he reflected. I think that's part of the reason that this story has gone so crazy.
In a statement, Israeli police said officers had attended the scene to assess and address a report on a hotline about a man wearing a kippah with a Palestinian flag.
During the handling of the incident, the individual was brought to the police station where following clarification, the individual was subsequently released. As a complaint has been filed with the Police Internal Investigations Division within the Ministry of Justice, no further details can be provided at this stage.
There is no explicit Israeli law banning public displays of the Palestinian flag. While Israeli courts have viewed it as a protected form of expression, Israeli police are authorized to remove or confiscate them if they are deemed a threat to public order or identifying with a terrorist organization.
The current far-right National Security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has instructed police to clamp down on Palestinian flags, in a way that Israeli rights groups have said is illegal.
Sinclair regularly wore his kippah with the Israeli and Palestinian flags on a black background over the past 20 years, after he specially ordered it from a shop in Jerusalem. He described it as a symbol of the messy ambivalence of my Jewish-Zionist identity.
After this week's experience, Sinclair said he felt anger and frustration as well as concern that he was now on the police radar. The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where Sinclair works, has issued a strongly-worded statement condemning the incident and affirming its commitment to freedom of expression.
Alex Sinclair, 53, said he was taken from the cafe where he was sitting near his home in Modiin, central Israel, on Monday, ordered to hand over his kippah and locked in a cell.
He said when the item was returned to him, the part with the Palestinian flag had been cut off.
The unusual case has gained domestic and international attention after Sinclair shared the details in a social media post. Police told the BBC a complaint has been filed with their internal investigations division.
Sinclair, who is also a novelist, was working on his laptop in the cafe when, he said, a religious man came over to me with an angry face and shouted at me that my kippah is against the law.
He said he invited the man to sit down to discuss his views, but he refused and said he would call the police. Five minutes later, the police arrive, he wrote on Facebook. Two officers, and they immediately tell me that my kippah is against the law and that they are going to confiscate it.
Sinclair said he tried to explain politely that his kippah was not illegal but was taken into detention and driven by police car to the police station. He said he was forced to hand over his possessions and unable to make a phone call. Sinclair said he was then frisked and locked in a cell.
Twenty minutes later, Sinclair said, he was told he could leave but without his kippah. He said when he insisted on it being given back, the officer handed it to him with the Palestinian flag cut out. Sinclair called the incident 'surreal'.
That photo of the ripped kippah – there's something so kind of evocative about it, he reflected. I think that's part of the reason that this story has gone so crazy.
In a statement, Israeli police said officers had attended the scene to assess and address a report on a hotline about a man wearing a kippah with a Palestinian flag.
During the handling of the incident, the individual was brought to the police station where following clarification, the individual was subsequently released. As a complaint has been filed with the Police Internal Investigations Division within the Ministry of Justice, no further details can be provided at this stage.
There is no explicit Israeli law banning public displays of the Palestinian flag. While Israeli courts have viewed it as a protected form of expression, Israeli police are authorized to remove or confiscate them if they are deemed a threat to public order or identifying with a terrorist organization.
The current far-right National Security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has instructed police to clamp down on Palestinian flags, in a way that Israeli rights groups have said is illegal.
Sinclair regularly wore his kippah with the Israeli and Palestinian flags on a black background over the past 20 years, after he specially ordered it from a shop in Jerusalem. He described it as a symbol of the messy ambivalence of my Jewish-Zionist identity.
After this week's experience, Sinclair said he felt anger and frustration as well as concern that he was now on the police radar. The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where Sinclair works, has issued a strongly-worded statement condemning the incident and affirming its commitment to freedom of expression.
