For Palestinian residents, Sunday’s far-right “Jerusalem Day” flag march was a day of provocation and violence against them.
About 70,000 Israelis marched through the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem, waving Israeli flags, and emphasizing that they, in their eyes, were the true rulers of Jerusalem.
The march, marking the 1967 occupation and subsequent annexation of East Jerusalem, was held annually, but this year it attracted one of the largest crowds on record.
Palestinians, young and old, were attacked, while Israeli forces watched on.
In the narrow alleys of the Old City, Palestinians were forced to listen as ultranationalist Jews chanted anti-Palestinian and Islamophobic chants, such as “Death to Arabs” and “Muhammed is dead”.
Other chants, accompanied by boisterous dancing and the sound of drums, included “a Jew is a soul, an Arab is a son of a whore” and “Shuafat is on fire” – referring to the 2015 burning alive of 15-year-old Palestinian teenager Mohammed Abu Khdeir by Israeli settlers in Jerusalem.
“May your village burn” – a reference to the ethnic cleansing of the majority of Palestinians in 1948 by Zionist paramilitaries – was also a common chant.
Sunday’s march saw journalists reporting on the march being attacked, with some ultranationalists revelling in the death of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed by an Israeli sniper while covering an army raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin earlier this month.
We witnessed similar in the Muslim quarter. Shortly after, our BBC team were assaulted causing our cameraman to lose part of his equipment. We were later spat at. One shouted: “Go and be with Shireen” https://t.co/dug5Eg8aRT
– Tom Bateman (@tombateman) May 30, 2022
Are these chants the views of a minority, as has often been framed, or more reflexive of not just those who attended the march, but wider Israeli society?
‘Not a minority’
An article in the Israeli daily The Jerusalem Post that interviewed some of the Israelis participating in the march reflected a fervent, jingoistic mentality that interchanged the words “Arabs” and “terrorists” without a second thought.
“I work with Arabs… and I am not one of those who chant‘ death to Arabs ’,” one marcher said. “But our reality here is tough and we all know who is to blame. Everyone is too politically correct to say [Arabs are the problem] here. ”
According to the article, most of the marchers are “not driven by hate for Palestinians” but rather “by love for Israel” and the “constant fear” that it might not exist forever.
But, according to Honeida Ghanim, the director of the Palestinian Forum for Israeli Studies (MADAR), the political views of the Israelis who attended the march are “absolutely not a fringe element” of Israeli society.
“Demographically speaking, they are from the religious settler class,” she told Al Jazeera from Ramallah in the West Bank. “They transformed from being a marginal group to an essential part within Israeli society and the Jewish body as a whole.”
Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12-year rule bolstered the presence of this class into the mainstream, where their figureheads held top positions in state institutions in various governments, Ghanim explained. The current premier, Naftali Bennett, used to be a minister of the settlement council, which speaks volumes about the change in the heart of Israeli society.
“It [Israel’s government] is getting more religious and giving more powers to ultraorthodox factions and to the ultra-religious and ultranationalists – the extreme settlers, ”Ghanim said. “It is a continuous shift for the whole society to the right on the political spectrum, the fanatical religious and settler right.”
Orly Noy, an Israeli political activist and journalist, agreed, and described the annual event as a congratulatory mainstream Israeli event.
“They [the marchers] are not the minority, not in numbers, not in ideology, and not in their political status, ”she told Al Jazeera.
“Perhaps many Israelis do not like to see the photos of an old Palestinian woman being beaten up by a kid, but the march itself is a huge Israeli celebration. It’s not something on the political periphery any more. ”
YESTERDAY: Thousands of Israeli settlers have seen chanting insults and inciting to violence against Palestinians at Damascus Gate at the entrance to the Muslim Quarter of the Old City, Jerusalem. pic.twitter.com/9eiXkyR96n
– Activestills (@activestills) May 30, 2022
Jewish supremacy
The images have become commonplace in recent years – teenage girls and boys draped in the Israeli flag sing patriotic Israeli songs and call for the death of Palestinians in one breath, all while being protected by thousands of Israeli forces.
The culture of intimidation, racism, and hatred is the direct consequence of the continuous shift in the Israeli political spectrum moving constantly to the right, Noy said. In other words, these teenagers have grown up under various right-wing governments that have gotten more far-right and extreme in their ideologies.
YESTERDAY: Thousands of Israeli settlers have seen chanting insults and inciting to violence against Palestinians at Damascus Gate at the entrance to the Muslim Quarter of the Old City, Jerusalem. pic.twitter.com/9eiXkyR96n
– Activestills (@activestills) May 30, 2022