Jerusalem Day | Israeli Teens Rampage Through Muslim Quarter in Old City
JERUSALEM - Tens of thousands of Israelis, many of them teenagers, are taking part in an annual Jerusalem Day march through the Old City; before the parade even began, young Israelis beat Palestinian residents in the Muslim Quarter, damaged storefronts and shouted racist slogans like "death to Arabs" and "May your village burn."
Police said on Thursday afternoon 13 suspects have been detained so far following several violent incidents.
The so-called Flag March is part of a commemoration of East Jerusalem's capture by Israeli forces during the Six-Day War in 1967. The march is organized by far-right groups and is historically marked by violence and racist chants aimed at its Arab residents, with many shops in the Old City closed due to fears of violence.
Before the official Flag March began, a mob of Israeli teenagers harassed and taunted Palestinian Jerusalemites, as well as journalists and activists, spitting, shouting racist and homophobic slogans, and throwing chairs and coffee at passersby as they walked through the Old City. Violent clashes broke out in the Muslim Quarter, with people seen throwing rocks, chairs and glass bottles.
Another group of teens harasses, spits at, taunts Arabs (and activists and journalists) in the Old City
Far-right teenage Israelis harass and attack shopkeepers during Jerusalem Day, who respond with chairs and bottles. Coexistence activists attempt to intervene
A police officer in Jerusalem's Old City pushed Haaretz journalist Linda Dayan while wearing a press card after refusing her request to accompany her out of the area. Teenagers and youth, seemingly as young as 10 years old, threw water and coffee at her, and stole the phone of another journalist in the area. The mob also shouted homophobic slurs at the journalists.
Thousands of police officers are deployed in the area, with major roads around the Old City closed and Jerusalem's light rail operating on a limited schedule. Marchers are set to enter the Old City through multiple gates before arriving at the Western Wall.
The parade's "Flag Dance" began at Jerusalem's Independence Park. At the IDF Square near the Old City, the march split, with boys entering the Old City through the Damascus Gate and the Muslim Quarter and the girls through the Jaffa Gate and the Jewish Quarter.
Police officers stationed at the Damascus Gate leading to the Muslim and Christian quarters blocked Arabs nonresidents from passing through, directing them to the Lion's Gate further north. Jewish visitors were allowed through.
According to an officer who spoke to Haaretz, police were instructed to direct Arabs toward the far gate.
At Damascus Gate, the entrance to the Muslim Quarter, a police officer waved through Jews entering the Old City – and checked the ID cards of a group of women in hijabs to make sure they were residents of the area.
At the winding alley full of candy and souvenir shops, police at barriers let no one through without showing that they are residents.
Volunteers from the Jewish-Arab movement Standing Together are stationed throughout the quarter in an effort to de-escalate violent altercations, wearing purple vests. The activists are providing protective presence, as they do for Palestinians fending off attacks from Jewish settlers in the West Bank.
Nati, one such volunteer, stood by the entrance of the quarter's corridors. This is his third year standing guard at the Flag March.
"Last year, we saw a lot of violence, a lot of verbal violence, racist songs, spitting, harassment of girls coming home from school," during the march, he said. Arab shopkeepers who refused to close their storefronts saw them upended.
"We've seen it taken up a notch. Each year it gets worse. Last year, there were some eruptions that were really scary."
They are there to "put ourselves between the attackers and the Palestinians – anything that happens, we want to be in the middle," out of consideration that the far-right groups will be less likely to hurt them, and that the police will respond to them more mildly.
Anti-occupation activists from Looking the Occupation in the Eye, Mothers Against Violence, and other groups are also present in the area to do protective presence.
Anan, a butcher, said as he chopped and weighed cuts of meat, "They do this every year, we've learned to deal with it." He, too, closed his shop, "so that we won't have problems with them," he said of the rioters.
"Not all Jews are the same. They throw bottles and stuff. We come together and close up so that our kids don't get into trouble too. So we close up and go."
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir celebrated Jerusalem Day at the Temple Mount/Al-Aqsa compound, announcing, "Today more than ever – the Temple Mount is in our hands!"
The Al-Aqsa compound, located in the Old City, is Islam's third holiest site and Judaism's most sacred. Under a fragile, decades-old "status quo" arrangement with Muslim authorities, the site is managed by a Jordanian religious foundation, and while Jews may visit, they are not permitted to pray there.
The Flag March is funded by the Jerusalem Municipality with a budget of half a million shekels. This year, the Israeli government set aside funding to expand the march to dozens of ultra-nationalist Flag Day parades across the country.