Israeli nationalists chanted "death to Arabs," "burn your villages," and "Gaza is a graveyard" during a state-sponsored march in Jerusalem on the anniversary of the city's occupation and annexation.
The annual march, seen as a demonstration of Jewish control over Palestinian East Jerusalem, has become increasingly extreme in recent years. This year, the activity culminated with Israel's National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, waving an Israeli flag in front of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's holiest site in the city.
Most Palestinians in the Muslim quarter of the Old City had closed their shops and left before the march began, but far-right Jewish groups clashed with the Palestinians who remained. Both sides threw chairs at each other, until police intervened in large numbers.
"I came to show the whole world that this is our city. This is the Holy Land. God gave us this land and this city," said 19-year-old Ariel Amichai, a participant in the march.
Asked what the march's message was for the Palestinians of Jerusalem, he replied: "That they should leave. This is our country. They can't be here and try to slaughter or kill us."
Participants in the march were transported by bus from various parts of Israel and from settlements in the occupied West Bank, in an operation funded by the Jerusalem municipality and government ministries. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich also participated in the march.
After the Palestinians left the Old City, tensions shifted between the government-backed marchers and activists from the Jewish group "Standing Together," who had come to protect Palestinians from political violence.
At the Al-Aqsa compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, Ben-Gvir danced with his supporters, chanting "The Temple Mount is in our hands," while waving the Israeli flag. The minister has led a campaign to weaken the 59-year-old status quo that bars non-Muslims from praying at the holy site.
Later, Ben-Gvir wrote on Telegram: “59 years after the liberation of Jerusalem, I raised the Israeli flag on the Temple Mount and we can proudly say: we have regained control of the Temple Mount.”
