Published: 29 May 2025
Last updated: 29 May 2025
On Monday, tens of thousands of Israelis joined a state-funded march through the Muslim Quarter of the Old City in Jerusalem, where large groups chanted racist slogans, including “Gaza is ours”, “Death to the Arabs”, and “May their villages burn”.
The ‘Jerusalem day flag march’, commemorating Israel’s conquest of the eastern part of the city during the Six-Day War, has for years been marred by racism and attacks on Palestinians. It is often preceded by a campaign of violence in the Old City that effectively shuts down Palestinian-majority areas, particularly the Muslim Quarter.
The morning began on a positive note, as peace activists handed out flowers to challenge what they saw as the main march’s divisive message. Orly Likhovski of the Israel Religious Action Center said those participating in the peace event were “not willing to accept that this day is marked by violence and racism”, adding that they hoped to represent “a Jewish voice for a different kind of Jerusalem”.
Some Palestinians accepted the flowers, but one elderly man near Damascus Gate politely refused, saying to Al-monitor “Do you see what is happening in Gaza? I'm sorry, but I cannot accept.”
Violence broke out in the walled Old City shortly after midday, according to a Reuters witness, when young marchers began harassing the few Palestinian shopkeepers who had yet to shutter their stores ahead of the rally.
The crowd shouted nationalist slogans and called for violence against Palestinians, chanting: “Death to Arabs”. A Palestinian woman and several journalists were spat on by a group of marchers, while nearby Israeli police did not intervene, the Reuters witness added. No arrests were reported as of late afternoon. A police officer at the scene stated that young Israeli marchers could not be arrested because they were under the age of 18.
Activists from the group Standing Together, who stood as human shields in front of attackers—protected only by purple gilets identifying them as members—were often the only barrier preventing the violence from escalating.
Celebrating death in Gaza
A fringe singing racist songs has been a problem at the march for some time but Haaretz reported that this year the majority of marchers participated in chants such as “May your village burn,” “Muhammad is dead,” and “Avenge but one of my two eyes of Palestine, damn them” (a phrase that literally means “May their name and memory be erased.” Marchers slammed their flagpoles against metal doors while chanting loudly.
New songs celebrated the devastation of Gaza with words such as “There’s no school in Gaza, there’s no children left”, “Let the IDF fuck the Arabs” and “Flatten Gaza”.
The songs demonstrated the insensitivity of many Israelis to the suffering in Gaza. “At first glance, this is just another repulsive, racist song. Is ‘Death to Arabs’ any less terrible than the new song? Nevertheless, it’s hard to ignore the explicit, gleeful reference to slain children. It’s also hard to ignore the fact that these lines were chanted in a country that has already devoted several weeks to collectively denying the very existence of dead children in the Gaza Strip,” warned a Haaretz editorial.
Ben-Gvir's incitement
The marchers’ hero was National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Launching the flag march that afternoon, Ben-Gvir addressed a large crowd of celebrants—mostly yeshiva students from across the country—outside the Great Synagogue of Jerusalem.
Before speaking, Ben-Gvir held up a sticker with the name and face of a slain IDF soldier. “What sweethearts, what sweethearts you are,” he said. “Bringing me stickers of slain soldiers—may God avenge their blood. Heroes and martyrs—thanks to them, we are winning.” But, he added, “this victory must be taken further and further… we will enter Gaza and triumph!” The crowd cheered the Times of Israel reported. He continued by condemning the recent government decision to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza. “I say to the Prime Minister, dear Prime Minister: we must not give them humanitarian aid; we must not give them fuel… our enemies deserve only a bullet to the head!”
Earlier, Ben-Gvir made an inflammatory trip to pray at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, where officially Israel does not permit Jewish religious rituals. In a video filmed at the elevated compound, Ben-Gvir claimed the site was being “flooded by Jews”.
“Today, thank God, it is already possible to pray on the Temple Mount,” he said. Under a decades-old arrangement, the compound is administered by a Jordanian Islamic trust. Jews—who regard the site as the location of two ancient temples—are allowed to visit but not to pray there.
Ben-Gvir’s visit was condemned by both the Palestinian Authority and Jordan. Alongside others on the far-right in Israel, he has long pushed for Jewish prayer rights at the site.
“Political Pyromania”
In a rare move, the Israeli cabinet convened in the predominantly Palestinian neighbourhood of Silwan, home to an archaeological site known as the City of David. By doing so, Prime Minister Netanyahu ignored warnings from the Shin Bet security service that it would be an inflammatory move, according to Israeli media. At the meeting, Netanyahu vowed to “keep Jerusalem united, whole, and under Israeli sovereignty”.
Danny Seidemann, an Israeli attorney specialising in the geopolitics of Jerusalem, described the decision to hold the meeding in Silwan as political "pyromania".
“The ridge to the south of the ramparts of the Old City, literally in the shadow of the Old City, is indeed the location of biblical Jerusalem. But it is also a contemporary Palestinian neighbourhood,” Seidemann said. “The past is being weaponised by biblically motivated settlers to displace Palestinians, demolish their homes and recreate their vision of a renewed pseudo-ancient Israel. This site—the most contested and volatile in Jerusalem—is where Netanyahu has decided to ‘celebrate’.”
Opposition leader Yair Lapid said the Jerusalem day events had become a festival of “hatred and racism”, calling it “a disgrace and an insult to Judaism”. Left-wing leader Yair Golan described the violence in the Old City as “shocking”, stating “This is not what loving Jerusalem looks like. This is what hatred, racism and bullying look like.”
READ MORE
Jerusalem day flag march reached a new low: mocking the dead children of Gaza (Nir Hasson, Haaretz)
Scuffles, insults as Israelis celebrate Jerusalem Day under shadow of Gaza war (Paywall, Al-Monitor)
WATCH: Tensions flared in Jerusalem as ultra-nationalist Israeli Jews march (CNN)
Thousands of Israelis join violent, racist march through Jerusalem’s Muslim quarter (The Guardian)
Far-right Israelis confront Palestinians, other Israelis in chaotic Jerusalem march, witnesses say (Reuters)
At this year's festivities, Jerusalem day normalized calls for genocide (Editorial, Haaretz)
Comments1
Rachel Sussman29 May at 09:51 am
I fully agree
While Israelis and Jews have the full right to celebrate the unification of Jerusalem there is no room for hateful slogans and violence. Such behavior simply contaminates the true Jewish spirit; and yes, Ben Gvir has a lot to answer due to what I perceive as extreme and arrogant perspective… You see we can criticise Israel when criticism is due as in this case… Thank you for raising the point. Maybe as a Jewish community, we can write a letter to the Knesset, to express our concern and objection to such behavior, personally, I will be glad to sign such a letter.