A resident of Modi’in was detained Monday by police after wearing a kippah bearing both an Israeli flag and a Palestinian flag. In a lengthy Facebook post describing his detention at the police station, Alex Sinclair said that upon his release he was initially barred from taking the kippah with him. According to his account, a police officer ultimately returned it only after cutting off the Palestinian flag.
“I walked home shaken, angry, depressed,” wrote Sinclair, who filed a complaint with the Internal Police Investigations Department, known by its acronym Mahash — a Justice Ministry unit that investigates alleged police misconduct.
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The kippah the police returned had the Palestinian flag cut out of it
(Photo: Facebook)
In his detailed post, Sinclair said the incident occurred at a café in Modi’in where he often sits and works. “A religious man came over to me with an angry face and shouted at me that my kippah is against the law,” he wrote. “For the past 20 years almost I've worn this kippah... . I smiled at the man who was shouting at me and I said, if you want to sit down with me and discuss politics, I'd be happy to, but it's not against the law. He said he was going to call the police. I shrugged my shoulders and said do what you have to do... . Five minutes later, the police arrive.”
According to Sinclair, the two officers told him they intended to confiscate the kippah because it was illegal. “To be clear, displaying a Palestinian flag in public is not against the law,” he wrote, adding that there have been attempts by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to classify it as a “provocation” and restrict its display at protests.
“I kept my cool, despite the fact that my heart was pounding away a hundred beats a minute and my hands were shaking. As far as I understand the law, I said politely, there is nothing illegal about this kippah. I began to tell them about the complex Jewish identity that is behind the kippah, thinking that as soon as they saw that I was just a harmless citizen minding his own business, they would leave me alone," Sinclair wrote.
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Alex Sinclair said he has been wearing the kippah for the last 20 years
(Photo: Facebook)
Sinclair said the officers told him: “We are detaining you. “Either you come with us to the station of your own accord, or we will do it by force.”
He continued: "That became the refrain of the entire process. “Either you do X, or we do it by force.” X was: give us your laptop, phone, and everything else from your pockets. (I was not allowed to make a phone call, not even to my wife). Then X was: get in the police car. Then, when we got to the police station, X was: get into the cell. Take off your belt. Face the wall, hands against the wall. They frisked me. Then they locked me in the cell, on my own, no water, no phone, no idea of what was going on or what the process would be. (Note: apparently I was not actually arrested. There’s a difference between being detained and being arrested; but that distinction doesn’t mean a hell of a lot when you’re sitting in a cell on your own without being allowed to speak to your wife or a lawyer)."
He continued: “The crazy thing is that I was still naively thinking that it would be okay. Someone, a superior officer, wiser and more experienced, would come along, express regret for the hot-headed actions of the two young beat cops, and send me on my way with an apology and a “we’re here to protect and serve you, sir.” So I sat there in the cell, waiting for common sense to prevail."
He said that after about 20 minutes the officers opened his cell door and escorted him to the door of the station. There, "they shoved my backpack into my arms and told me to go – without my kippah." He told them that he would not leave without his property.
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Filed a complaint against the police for wrongful detention and destruction of property
(Photo: Facebook)
After about 20 minutes, they opened the cell and told me to come to the station entrance. They shoved my bag into my arms and told me to leave — without the kippah. I told them it was my property.”
“'You can either go now without the kippah or we can put you back into the cell by force,' said the officer. 'I don’t want to go back into the cell,' I said. 'But that kippah is important to me.'
"The officer went back into the station and returned a minute later with my kippah. She had cut out the Palestinian flag. She’d taken my possession, a religious ritual object, something that is very dear to my heart, and destroyed it."
Sinclair added that he has filed a complaint against the police "for breaking the law through unlawful detainment and damaging my property."
"It’s hard not to feel distressed that the police can just come and pull me away from a café in the middle of Modiin because they don’t like my politics. It’s hard not to be furious that they destroyed my kippah that meant so much to me. It’s hard not to feel worried and anxious and frankly devastated that this is the direction that Israel is moving in," he also wrote.
"Those of you who know me, or who have studied with me, or have been at my talks in synagogues and JCCs and Israel groups, or have read my work over the years, know that I am a Zionist. I believe in the Jewish people’s right to national self-determination, and I believe we have a legitimate historical connection to this piece of land. Believing the same thing about the Palestinians does not make me less Jewish or less Zionist. And it certainly should not result in me being taken from my café seat and thrown in a police cell."
The Israel Police responded: “Following a report received by the police hotline about an individual sitting at a business in the city wearing a kippah with a Palestinian flag, officers from the Modi’in station arrived quickly to examine and address the report. During the handling of the incident, the individual was detained and taken to the station, and after clarification he was released. As a complaint has been filed with the Department for Internal Police Investigations, we cannot elaborate further at this time.”
First published: 20:05, 04.23.26