Ask Onix
Academic detained over kippah design
Alex Sinclair, a 53-year-old British-Israeli academic, was detained by Israeli police on Monday after a bystander reported his kippah, which featured both Israeli and Palestinian flags. Sinclair described the incident as "surreal" and said police cut the Palestinian flag from his head covering before returning it.
Incident at a Modiin café
Sinclair, a lecturer in Jewish education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, was working on his laptop in a café near his home in Modiin, central Israel, when a religious man confronted him. The man shouted that Sinclair's kippah was illegal and called the police.
Within minutes, two officers arrived and informed Sinclair his kippah violated the law. Despite his attempts to explain, he was taken into custody, driven to a police station, and held in a cell for 20 minutes. Sinclair said he was denied a phone call and forced to surrender his belongings.
When released, he was given back his kippah-with the Palestinian flag portion cut out. "That photo of the ripped kippah-there's something so evocative about it," he later reflected. "I think that's part of why this story has gone viral."
Police response and legal context
Israeli police confirmed officers responded to a hotline report about a man wearing a kippah with a Palestinian flag. In a statement, they said Sinclair was brought to the station for "assessment" and later released. A complaint has since been filed with the Police Internal Investigations Division, preventing further comment.
While no Israeli law explicitly bans public displays of the Palestinian flag, courts have ruled it a protected form of expression. However, police may confiscate flags if deemed a "threat to public order" or linked to terrorism. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right figure, has directed police to crack down on such displays, a move rights groups call illegal.
Symbol of identity and backlash
Sinclair, an observant Masorti (Conservative) Jew, has worn the dual-flag kippah for 20 years, calling it a symbol of his "messy ambivalence" as a Zionist who supports Palestinian rights. He commissioned the design from a Jerusalem shop to distance himself from right-wing religious nationalists.
"I'm doing this as a Zionist, as someone who chooses to live here, who believes in Israel's right to exist and flourish in security-alongside Palestinians having those same rights."
Alex Sinclair, BBC interview
Sinclair said he has received both praise and hostility for the kippah, including "moving moments" with Palestinian citizens of Israel. This week's detention, however, left him feeling "anger, frustration, and concern" about being on police radar.
Institutional condemnation
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem sent a strongly worded letter to police, condemning the incident as a "blatant violation of freedom of expression." Yair Golan, leader of Israel's Democrats Party, called the episode a sign of the "collapse of the Israeli police."
Sinclair has filed a complaint alleging unlawful detention and property damage, seeking compensation for his ruined kippah. Undeterred, he plans to order a replacement with the same design, joking that it might "start a trend."
