Sheffield City Council considers flag-flying regulations following criticism

A group of people in charge said they will think again about their rules on flags at the town hall, but they won’t say sorry for flying the Israeli flag, even though some people were upset about it.

Last month, someone climbed up Sheffield Town Hall and changed the flag to a Palestinian one.

The council said they raised the flag to show support because Hamas attacked Israel from the Gaza Strip.

Tom Hunt, the leader, admitted that he knows it made some people feel bad. However, he didn’t want to say sorry because it might make them feel worse.

The Sheffield City Council raised the flag of Israel a few days after a group of Hamas armed fighters unexpectedly entered Israel from Gaza. They caused a surprise attack, resulting in the death of over 1,400 individuals and the taking of over 220 hostages.

Mr Hunt said the decision was made earlier, before Israel fought back with airstrikes. Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said that these airstrikes have killed over 9,000 people according to their records.

In a video shared online, you can hear people shouting “take it down” and cheering as a protester lowers the Israeli flag from the tall town hall.

This also led to a petition, where over 1,300 people signed, asking the council to say sorry for what they did. The request was given to the people in charge at a big meeting where Mr. Hunt answered to it.

The leader said that the UK government wanted towns and cities to think about putting up the Israeli flag on government buildings to show support.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, he said that the flag was raised to support the victims of the Hamas attack and it was not about choosing sides in a long-standing conflict.

He said: “We made the decision with good intentions, and of course, I and others have thought about it over the past few weeks, as the terrible things we witnessed in Israel have been replaced by the terrible things we have seen in Gaza. ”

“It was good to support each other, but I understand that this action hurt some people. ”

Mr Hunt mentioned that the council will look over how it decides when to fly the flag. He also mentioned that this decision is not easy and has caused different reactions and strong emotions.