On “Jerusalem Day,” Israeli Marchers Chant “Death to Arabs”

Tens of thousands of Israeli right-wing activists took to the streets May 18, 2023, waving blue and white Israeli flags while marching from West to East Jerusalem, and shouting “Death to Arabs” and other racist chants in the heart of Palestinian neighborhoods. Some of the marchers attacked Palestinians and journalists, throwing rocks at reporters, according to Haaretz.1

“Jerusalem Day” or “Flag Day” is Israel’s annual celebration of its occupation and subsequent annexation of the eastern half of the city in 1967. The day’s march, attended this year by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Knesset member May Golan, starts at the Great Synagogue in West Jerusalem and ends inside the Old City, at the Western Wall. While the route has been diverted in the past so as not to flow through Bab al-Amud, the main artery for Jerusalem’s Palestinians, the current government insisted on maintaining the usual route, despite recent tensions.

Last week, 33 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip from Israeli bombardment that also destroys thousands of Palestinian homes. In Israel, one Palestinian worker from Gaza and one Israeli were killed by Palestinian rockets.2

The provocative annual march was feared to threaten a ceasefire between Israel and Islamic Jihad forces in Gaza that went into effect May 13. Israeli Energy Minister Yisrael Katz threatened Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, saying that if the organization disrupts the march, he would be assassinated.3 (Israeli raids on other parts of the occupied Palestinian territory have continued, with dozens of Palestinians injured in a Nablus raid early the same morning.)

The intention of the procession, Ziad Hammouri, director of the Jerusalem Center for Economic and Social Rights, told Voice of Palestine, is “to send the message to Palestinians in particular, that this city is Jewish and under their full control. Every year, they try to increase the number of participants in the march so more flags are raised, especially along the march’s course.”4

A reported 3,200 Israeli police and security force members were deployed throughout the city to provide security during the celebrations.5 “The city looks more like a military encampment with thousands of police deployed,” said Hammouri.