Report: Police confiscated Hungarian flag from recent protest due to resemblance to Palestinian flag

Israel Police last week confiscated a Hungarian flag from an anti-government protester, claiming that it looks too much like the Palestinian flag and could cause “provocation,” Haaretz reports.

Both the Hungarian and Palestinian flags feature green, white and red, though their arrangement is different and Hungary’s flag does not feature black. Displaying a Palestinian flag is not illegal in Israel, but police regularly confiscate flags at protests, claiming they disturb the peace.

According to the report, police officers approached the man waving the Hungarian flag during a demonstration last Saturday at the Karkur Junction in northern Israel, and demanded that he hand the flag over.

“When I explained to him that it was the Hungarian flag, he said, ‘You might understand that, but others don’t,” Haaretz quotes the protester as saying. “I suggested that I return the flag to the car, but he refused and confiscated it. Only when the demonstration was over did he relent to my request and return the flag to me.”

באמת, זה אין לתאר.
קצין משטרה החרים דגל של הונגריה שהניף מפגין בצומת כרכור בטענה שהוא דומה מדי לדגל פלסטין ו"עלול לעורר פרובוקציה".

מדווחת @adihashmonai https://t.co/vAoTeUtTd9

— Josh Breiner (@JoshBreiner) April 25, 2026

According to Haaretz, police have not responded to the outlet’s inquiry regarding the alleged confiscation of the protester’s flag.

The report comes days after police detained a resident of the central city of Modiin for wearing a kippa displaying a Palestinian flag alongside an Israeli one, and later cut up the religious head covering to remove the symbol.