Police have arrested 18 suspects for violent offenses after Wednesday’s annual Jerusalem Day Flag March, in which tens of thousands of Israeli nationalists marched through the capital’s Muslim Quarter to celebrate the city’s reunification in 1967.
Extremists assaulted journalists as well as Palestinian residents during the event, which was supported by far-right ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, the ultranationalist National Security Minister, declared this year's march “a message to Hamas”, telling reporters: “We’re here to tell them that Jerusalem is ours, Damascus Gate is ours, and the Temple Mount is ours.”
In response, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office released a statement saying: “The status quo at the Temple Mount hasn’t changed, and it will not change.”
The rally has historically sparked tension between Jewish Israelis and Palestinians, and due to the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, security services were reportedly deeply concerned about the prospect of violence ahead of this year’s march.
According to police, more than 3,000 officers — including Border Police, volunteers, and backup from other cities — were deployed in and around the Old City on Wednesday afternoon.
The route of the march took Israelis through Jerusalem’s Old City towards the Western Wall going via the Damascus Gate and Muslim quarter.
The protests saw many young Jewish Israelis supporting the ideology of late ultranationalist Rabbi Meir Kahane, the founder of the racist Kach party, which is considered a Jewish terror group and outlawed in Israel.
These demonstrators then proceeded to bang on the shutters of Palestinian-owned shops and chanted slogans including “may your village burn down”, with several calling for “total victory” and the resettlement of the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli police said that they arrested 13 people “involved in various incidents” in the Old City.
Some of the marchers threw bottles and jeered at journalists from Arabic news outlets. With five more were arrested after the bottle-throwing continued.
When questioned about the violence against journalists, Matthew Miller a spokesperson for the US State Department said: “Attacks of that nature should be prevented when possible. When they can’t be prevented, they should be fully prosecuted, people should be held accountable under the law.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Jewish Israelis visited the Temple Mount, known by Muslims as the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, disrupting a long-held but tense status quo, whereby non-Muslims can visit but only Muslims can pray there.
