Jerusalem Day Passes Mostly Peacefully Despite Some Scuffles

Estimated 50,000 marchers trek through ancient Jerusalem streets to celebrate city’s unification; some marchers attack Arab journalists

Despite threats of violence and palpable tensions, thousands of Israelis marched through Jerusalem to celebrate Jerusalem Day, the anniversary of the unification of the city under Israeli rule after the Six-Day War in 1967.

The flag march took place just days after a cease-fire went into effect earlier this week following more than 1,000 rockets launched at Israel by Palestinian Islamic Jihad and hundreds of targets hit by Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip.

In recent years, the day’s events have become increasingly coopted by extremists on both sides using the occasion to antagonize and incite. This year was no different. Hamas threatened to launch rockets at Jerusalem while Jews marching through the Muslim Quarter chanted “Death to Arabs” and “We will burn your villages.”

The extremism that I see with my own eyes … bothers me very, very much

One attendee told The Media Line he came out to balance just that.

“For the past 10 years or so I’ve been seeing growing extremism surrounding this day,” Noam Litt told The Media Line. “In the past, Jerusalem Day was to celebrate the unification of Jerusalem and our ability to come to pray in our holy places. But it increasingly became something more exclusively for the religious Zionists.

“The extremism that I see with my own eyes … bothers me very, very much,” he said.

More than 2,000 police were deployed for crowd control and to prevent confrontations. The shops in the Muslim Quarter were shuttered and Arab residents were prevented from crossing temporary checkpoints set up throughout the city.

At some point, young marchers started throwing bottles, cans, and stones at a lineup of Arab television reporters. Police eventually pushed back the crowd.

Ibrahim Hamad, a freelance journalist, was with the reporters who were attacked.

“Sadly, what happened today is, we were filming, many journalists … but suddenly extreme Zionist groups came to Damascus Gate,” he told The Media Line. “They noted there were Muslims journalists next to us, who were wearing hijab … and they started to throw rocks and glass bottles and many other things … they started to shout at us, racist shouting, like ‘Death to Arabs’ and cursing our prophet.”

Aside from these and other altercations, the day largely passed peacefully and ended with an evening prayer rally at the Western Wall.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said he approved the controversial yet customary march route through the Arab neighborhoods “because of the threats.”

“We dealt heavy blows on those who attacked us in the Gaza Strip and I believe that the message was received and not just by them, but in other places in our region as well, that saw the impressive operational capabilities of the State of Israel,” he said. “And if an additional reminder proves necessary to restore deterrence—it will also come. We have changed the equation.”

Several Knesset members and ministers joined the march including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and Knesset Member Simcha Rothman.

Many of the participants were teens bused in from schools and yeshivas around the country from as far south as Eilat and as far north as Kiryat Shmona.

But one couple was attending their first Jerusalem Day after immigrating to Israel last month from the United States. Now she said she feels like she arrived home.

I think it’s great that people come, and they express their feelings about Jerusalem, about Israel, about love to Israel. I had a very, very nice and very peaceful conversation a couple of minutes ago with a Muslim woman and I think this is the way it’s supposed to be.

“I think it’s great that people come, and they express their feelings about Jerusalem, about Israel, about love to Israel,” Natalia Dolin told The Media Line. “I had a very, very nice and very peaceful conversation a couple of minutes ago with a Muslim woman and I think this is the way it’s supposed to be.”

This is our country, Israel. Nobody can tell us what to do in our country. You can go with a flag, whatever you want.

Haim Gozali, an Israeli MMA fighter, also joined the march, proudly waving an Israeli flag.

“This is our country, Israel. Nobody can tell us what to do in our country. You can go with a flag, whatever you want,” he told The Media Line. But when asked about provocative and racist threats made by some of the marchers, he condemned the behavior.

“We can live together,” he insisted. “We can all live together. But if the other side wants to live together, we’re going to live in peace.”