Citing safety concerns, officials in North Andover rescheduled a public meeting to discuss a resident’s proposal to display a Palestinian flag on the town common.
“Due to threats of litigation, as well as public safety concerns and space constraints under the Open Meeting Law, the Town Manager and the Police Chief have advised the Select Board to cancel [Monday’s] meeting and refer the flag matter to Town Counsel for review,” officials said in a statement on Monday.
The meeting will now be held on Nov. 13, according to the town’s website.
One of the items on the select board’s agenda was a resident’s request to raise the Palestinian flag on the town common from Nov. 7 to Dec. 7.
The resident, Selma Khayal, submitted a request for a flag-raising permit on Oct. 16. Khayal could not be immediately reached for comment Tuesday.
The topic is on the agenda for the Nov. 13 meeting, which will be held at North Andover High School.
Laurie Tishler Mindlin, executive director of the Merrimack Valley Jewish Federation, first heard about the proposal last week and had planned to attend Monday’s meeting before it was postponed.
“We see a few different possible outcomes and all are negative, should this flag be flown publicly,” she said Tuesday. “The flag doesn’t represent innocent human beings ... in most instances what it represents has been blurred toward terrorism.”
The Palestinian flag is “being used as the flag of terrorists,” she said.
“We don’t want something flown that represents that mission,” she said.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Emily Sweeney can be reached at emily.sweeney@globe.com. Follow her @emilysweeney and on Instagram @emilysweeney22.