Police backtrack on demand that anti-war demonstrators not hold posters of hostages or children in Gaza

Police attempted to forbid protesters from displaying “hostages signs” or “pictures of children or babies from Gaza” as a condition for their approval of an anti-war demonstration this Thursday in Tel Aviv.

In a letter sent to organizers first obtained by Haaretz, police further prohibited anti-war demonstrators from displaying signs with the word “genocide” on them.

After Haaretz reportedly reached out to law enforcement about the letter, police stated they had sent organizers updated instructions.

Protest organizer Alon-Lee Green, co-director of the joint Jewish-Arab “Standing Together” movement, tells The Times of Israel that it seems as if police have since backtracked from their initial demands.

“We’ll take them to the High Court if they persist, and win,” he adds.

Protest organizers tell Haaretz that the initial letter is an attempt to censor messages in protest of the war and government, and that the “police’s actions show that it is a political organization.”

The letter marks the first time in recent months that law enforcement has formally hinged approval for a demonstration on the condition protesters refrain from displaying what police describe as “incendiary” slogans, according to the Hebrew daily. But police who are on the ground at anti-war protests regularly seize what they deem provocative signs, often carrying out widespread arrests.

Police earlier this month arrested 23 protesters at a small anti-war demonstration in Haifa, tearing away protesters signs that read “Stop bombing aid convoys” and “Stop the genocide.”

Officers sought to extend the detention of three protesters the next day, however their request was rejected by the Haifa Magistrate’s Court.