Residents of a Massachusetts town has raised the Palestinian flag over their common after a ‘heated’ debate involving some 600 residents.
The flag was raised at 9.30am on Tuesday after the Democrat-led town gave its approval the previous night following furious arguments. Some residents were booted out after anti-Semitic chants broke out.
Pro-Palestinian supporters have argued for weeks that it is only fair that their flag should be raised, after an Israel flag was hoisted up after the Hamas terror attack on October 7.
Jenna Khayal, whose sister filed the permit for the flag, said: ‘Palestine is still under siege. The people in Gaza are still suffering, they are still being bombarded.
‘This flag represents its people. It represents the culture. It is not a terrorist flag, and we will not let it be misconstrued that way.’
But the local Jewish community was deeply disturbed by the decision.
Rabbi Idan Irelander, who leads Congregation Ahavat Olam, told NBC: ‘As a Jewish community, we are very disappointed. Unfortunately, today the Palestinian flag represents hatred, represents war, represents anti-Semitism. The raising of the Israeli flag was obviously in solidarity to an American ally.’
The Palestinian flag was raised above North Andover’s town common on Tuesday
The flag was raised after a ‘heated’ meeting on Monday night
Residents of North Andover are seen on Monday night lining up to speak in favor or against flying the Palestinian flag. Each person was given three minutes, and remarks were limited to an hour
Some people needed to be removed from the room, and at times people chanted slogans including ‘From the river to the sea’ – which many consider a genocidal chant about erasing the Israeli nation, set up shortly after the Second World War in response to the horrific treatment of Jewish people at the hands of the Nazis.
While the meeting had been scheduled for last week, it was postponed due to ‘threats of litigation as well as public safety concerns’.
Local resident Brian Buzby said he was in favor of the Palestinian flag flying, saying his wife’s sister-in-law had lost 14 members of her family in Gaza since the war started – four of them being children.
Buzby said the meeting was tense, telling Boston 25 News: ‘It was pretty heated.’
‘There are those that look at the Palestinian flag as a symbol of hate.’
Salma Boula, who also attended the meeting, told the channel there was ‘a lot of tension, a lot of opposition.’
She supported the proposal to fly the Palestinian flag.
Brian Buzby said he supported the request to fly the Palestinian flag over North Andover town common
‘If Israel gets their flag to fly in the North Andover common then Palestinians deserve that same right,’ she said.
There was a large police presence at the meeting as a precaution.
The proposal to fly the Palestinian flag was submitted on October 16 – hours before the town updated its policies, in line with a U.S. Supreme Court decision.
Under the new policies, now in place, Melissa Rodrigues, the town manager said flags could no longer be flown.
But as the request was made under the old policy, it went to a board vote, and the town did not want to face litigation by denying the request.
Marc Freedman, president of the Congregation Ahavat Olam in North Andover, told Fox News Digital he was disgusted and horrified by the decision.
‘The town was a coward,’ Freedman said.
‘I don’t believe the flag should have been raised because today it is a symbol of hatred and antisemitism.’
North Andover residents are seen on Monday night streaming out of the board meeting
North Andover is not alone in Massachusetts in raising the Palestinian flag in the public square.
The state’s second-largest city, Worcester, flew the flag in front of City Hall, according to the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.
North Andover’s representative in Congress’ lower house, Seth Moulton, has said the Israel-Hamas war would ‘probably’ not have begun had Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not been in power.
Moulton said Netanyahu was a ‘total disaster’, but said he did not back calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, saying it would only give Hamas more time to regroup.
Moulton, an ex-Marine who served four tours in Iraq, and sits on the House Armed Services Committee, told Mass Live on Monday that he wanted more humanitarian pauses, to allow for hostages to be released and civilians evacuated.