Ultranationalist Jews Parade Through Jerusalem’s Old City, Shouting “Death to Arabs”

On Thursday, Jerusalem braced for tens of thousands of ultranationalist Jews to parade through Palestinian areas of the Old City during an annual march that is often characterized by racist chants and violence.

The march, described as taking place as Israel commemorates what it calls Jerusalem Day, marked Israel’s capture of east Jerusalem, including the Old City and its holy sites, in the 1967 Mideast war.

Al Jazeera

EFE reported that hundreds of Jewish ultranationalists, mostly teenagers, took the Old City on “Jerusalem Day,” shouting supremacist slogans such as “Death to Arabs” and “May their villages burn.”

Al Jazeera said the event took place against the backdrop of Israel’s war with Iran and a so-called “ceasefire” in Gaza, marked by near-daily violations by Israeli forces, while Palestinian residents stayed indoors and shuttered their shops.

Israeli police issued a statement saying they had deployed thousands of officers, border patrol agents, and volunteers to «guarantee the security» of the event, while EFE said it witnessed activists and journalists being verbally abused and attacked by young settlers.

Standing Together volunteers tried to form a human barrier between ultranationalist groups and Palestinians, and EFE quoted Ori Weisberg saying, "As a Jew, I observe what is happening."

Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera quoted Rula Daoud, the group’s co-director, saying, “Our presence is to just protect people from being attacked, places from being vandalised. And we try to de-escalate this day,” while she accused Israeli police of failing to intervene to curb abuses.

The march’s hostility extended to journalists, with Al Jazeera saying some reporters were shoved and blocked from filming by participants, as Palestinian businesses in the Old City pulled down their metal shutters and deserted the narrow stone alleyways.

Several sources tied the march to heightened tensions around the Temple Mount/Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, with PBS News reporting that Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir staged another provocative visit to the hilltop compound.

France 24 reported that Ben-Gvir visited the Temple Mount/Al-Aqsa Mosque compound at the start of Israel’s annual Jerusalem Day celebrations, provoking anger in Paris and Amman, and it quoted Paris condemning the visit as a “new, unacceptable provocation.”

In the Old City, Diari ARA described the march as crossing the Muslim quarter with a strong police presence and restrictions for Palestinian residents, while it said volunteers from Standing Together tried to stop violence with non-violent techniques and their bodies.

Diari ARA also placed the day amid a political moment in Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, saying parties registered a bill to dissolve the Israeli parliament prematurely and call elections, with a proposal for elections within a minimum of ninety days after the law’s approval.