Israel’s flag march, an annual display of right-wing Israeli nationalism and anti-Palestinian racism, took place on Sunday afternoon, stoking tensions in Jerusalem and across the occupied Palestinian territory.
Israeli media reported that Sunday’s flag march was the largest in years, with an estimated 70,000 Israelis participating in the parade.
Palestinian leaders condemn march, warn of retaliation from Gaza
10:55pm (7:55PM GMT)
Leading up to the march, Palestinian factions in Gaza denounced the parade, threatening retaliation against Israel.
“The flag march plan is an explosive barrel and will blow the region up,” the factions said in a joint statement in a press conference held in Gaza City on Thursday.
The factions called on Palestinians to defend Jerusalem, and encouraged people to establish their presence in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and across the city.
The groups said that Israel would bear the responsibility of any aggressions made against Palestinians, adding “We will use every possible means to defend our people, secret places, and our Aqsa Mosque.
Last year, the military wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza fired rockets into Israel following the flag march in Jerusalem. The rocket fire came after the factions gave Israel an ultimatum, to stop the march, and retreat its forces who were attacking the al-Aqsa Mosque compound and suppressing peaceful protests in Sheikh Jarrah at the time.
Israel then launched an 11-day offensive on the Gaza Strip that lead to more than 200 Palestinians being killed, including over 60 children.
In the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority condemned the flag march and the attacks on Palestinians in the city, with Prime Minister Mohamemd Shtayyeh calling for sanctions to be placed on Israel.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ spokesperson Nabil Abu Rdeineh said in a statement: “It is not possible to achieve security and stability in our region, as long as Israel continues its war on our people, their land and their holy sites, and as long as it deals as a state above the law and rejects the resolutions of international legitimacy and the foundations of the peace process.”
Jordan also condemned the march and the storming of Israeli settlers on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound earlier in the day.
Tareq Hajjaj contributed to this report from Gaza.
Settlers attack Palestinian homes in Sheikh Jarrah, Nablus
10:28pm (7:28pm GMT)
Israeli settlers reportedly attacked Palestinian homes in the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah under police protection, according to Palestinian media.
Wafa News Agency reported that settlers raided the al-Samoud area of the neighborhood along with police forces, throwing stones at Palestinians homes and vandalizing vehicles. Wafa reported that live ammunition was fired in the neighborhood.
In the Nablus district of the northern occupied West Bank, Israeli settlers attacked the village of Burin, which borders the extremist Yitzhar settlement, and is the frequent site of settler attacks.
According to Wafa, the settlers attacked the homes of Palestinian residents with Molotv cocktails, sparking confrontations in the village.
The settler attacks came hours after an estimated 50,000 right-wing Israeli settlers paraded through Jerusalem for the annual ‘flag march’, harassing and assaulting Palestinians, and shouting racist chants along the way.
Hundreds of Palestinians injured in Jerusalem, West Bank
10:18pm (7:18pm GMT)
Hundreds of Palestinians have been injured across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem as Israeli forces suppress protests that erupted in response to the far-right Israeli flag march in Jerusalem today.
Palestinians in East Jerusalem came under attack from both Israeli settlers and police forces, with at least 62 injuries, including 23 hospitalizations, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent (PCRS).
PCRS reported that injuries included rubber-coated steel bullet wounds, beatings and pepper spray.
Israeli settlers were documented as pepper spraying and assaulting Palestinian bystanders during the march, according to local Palestinian media. In at least one instance, a young settler was filmed pepper spraying and attempting to kick a Palestinian woman in the Old City.
Protests were reported in districts across the West Bank, including Hebron, Bethlehem, Ramallah, Nablus, and Qalqilya, as Palestinians took to the streets to protest the flag march.
Earlier in the day, hundreds of Palestinians marched through the streets of Ramallah in a counter protest, raising Palestinian flags as they walked through the city.
PCRS reported over 163 injuries in the West Bank, consisting of live ammunition, rubber-coated steel bullets, and tear gas. Local Palestinian media reported dozens of live ammunition injuries across the West Bank.
The flag march on Sunday came amidst lots of anger and frustration in the occupied territory, following the killing of three Palestinian children last week, and the killing of Palestinian veteran journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.
Crowds chant ‘Death to Arabs’
8:53pm (5:53 pm GMT)
Thousands of far-right Israeli settlers participated in the annual flag march in occupied East Jerusalem on Sunday, with some crowds chanting “Death to Arabs.”
According to Al Jazeera, thousands of Israeli settlers marched through the Old City carrying Israeli flags and singing religious songs, chanting nationalistic slogans, and hurling racial-epithets at Palestinians.
Some of the chants were “the Jewish nation lives,” “Death to Arabs,” and “Let your village burn down” – all popular chants commonly featured at the annual parade.
The march set off at 4pm local time (1:00pm GMT) and is scheduled to end at 10pm (7:00pm GMT), though the effects of the march are expected to to be felt across Palestinian neighborhoods in Jerusalem and cities across the West Bank into the night, as Israeli forces continue to crack down on protesters.
Israel’s flag march, an annual display of right-wing Israeli nationalism and anti-Palestinian racism, is set to take place on Sunday afternoon, and is already stoking tensions in Jerusalem and across the occupied Palestinian territory.
Settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque under police protection
3:48pm (12:48pm GMT)
On Sunday morning ahead of the march, hundreds of far-right settlers, including Israeli MK Itamar Ben-Gvir, stormed the al-Aqsa Mosque compound under heavy Israeli police protection. According to Israeli media, close to 2,000 settlers entered the compound in smaller groups.
Local media reported that some of the settlers danced, waved Israeli flags, and performed prayer rituals at the site, angering Palestinian worshipers, as Jewish worship at the site is no permitted according to a decades-long agreement between Israel and Jordan, the official custodian of the mosque.
The Times of Israel reported that Israeli police did not intervene as the settlers performed different rituals at the site, despite the blatant violation of the status quo.
According to reports, a number of Palestinian worshipers were barricaded inside the al-Qibli prayer hall of the Al-Aqsa Mosque – the site of intense attacks by Israeli forces earleir this year during the holy month of Ramadan.
Some Palestinians threw stones at police, while Israeli forces fired rubber-coated steel bullets at worshipers. Haaretz reported that at least 18 Palestinians were detained from the compound “for disorderly conduct, rioting and assault on police officers or civilians.”
Israeli police also reportedly prevented a number of Palestinian journalists from entering the compound.
Several reports were made throughout the morning of Israeli settlers harassing Palestinians throughout the Old City, while Israeli police were filmed violently detaining Palestinians in the area.
Translation: The occupation forces abused a young Jerusalemite at the moment of his arrest from Al-Wad Street in the Old City of occupied Jerusalem.
Translation: The occupation forces assaulted two girls in the Old City of occupied Jerusalem.
Times of Israel reported settler youth singing “I will take one revenge for both my eyes against Palestine — damn them,” as they walked through the city. One settler youth reportedly told his friends, “The next time you see Arabs running, stick out your legs and trip them.”
Palestinian Authority-owned Wafa News Agency reported that groups of settlers “shouted profanities at Palestinians and verbally assaulted some of them under police protection,” as they made their way through the Old City.
Settlers reportedly assaulted and beat up three Palestinians, causing them minor injuries, including one hospitalization, Wafa reported.
Outside the Damascus Gate entrance to the Old City, Israeli police closed off the area and arrested three Palestinians. Israel began cracking down on Palestinians at Damascus Gate on Saturday evening, as smaller groups of settlers marched in the area with Israeli flags.
One video showed Israeli police detaining a Palestinian woman and subsequently beating her inside the permanent police checkpoint outside the gate.
According to the media, around 3,000 Israeli police have been deployed across Jerusalem in anticipation of the march Sunday afternoon.
This is a developing story.
What is the ‘Flag March’?
The march takes place every year on Israel’s “Jerusalem Day”, and marks the state’s capture of occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 war, and the subsequent annexation of the territory – a move not recognized by the international community.
The parade, which makes its way through East Jerusalem, the Muslim quarter of the Old City and ends at the Western Wall, has become symbolic of Israeli nationalism and attempts to assert Israeli dominance and sovereignty over the city and its Palestinian residents.
Every year the provocative march features thousands of settler youth who wave Israeli flags as they march through the city, often harassing Palestinians and chanting racial epithets along the way.
Among the most popular chants featured at the annual march, are “Death to Arabs,” “may your village burn,” and “a second Nakba is coming,” referring to the Nakba, or ‘catastrophe’ in Arabic, when thousands of Palestinians were massacred by Zionist militias and over 750,000 were forcibly expelled from their homes in 1948.
While the settlers are escorted through the city under heavy Israeli police protection, Palestinians in the Old City are usually forced to shutter the doors to their businesses, and their movement is severely restricted.
Last year, the flag march sparked the devastating 11-day Israeli offensive in Gaza that killed hundreds of Palestinians, after Palestinian factions in Gaza followed through on threats to fire rockets into Israel if the march took place.
I am watching Al Jazeera on line. It is such an ugly sight to see these right wing thugs marching this way. Apparently they have breached the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, which is sheer provocation for her Palestinians, and playing to the sensitivities, in the most arrogant manner. It can be a very explosive situation. They gloat and flaunt in true supremacists style.
These right wing settlers, remind me of nazi youth, whenever I see them behave this way, and when they march through Arab neighborhoods, chanting racist slogans, and calling for Arabs to be killed.
America’s top charity case, once again displaying its evil ways, provoking, and showing hatred, racism, and viciousness, to those they wield power over.
How would the zionists apologists and supporters react if Palestinians marched this way, shouting anti Jewish slogans, and calling for Jews to be killed? How would the US congress people react to that? How would Israeli leaders respond to that, another massacre in Gaza as usual? Jonathan Greenblatt and pro Israeli Americans would be outrage and howling like wolves.
We don’t see any US media covering this. No surprise.
There can be no doubt!! Zionism is racism, Zionism is fascism!!
US lawmakers say radical groups in Israel attack Christians ‘with impunity’ | Middle East Eye
May 3/2022
EXCERPT:
“US lawmakers say radical groups in Israel attack Christians ‘with impunity’
The rare bipartisan criticism follows warnings of a ‘systematic attempt’ to drive Christians out of Jerusalem & the holy land.”
“A bipartisan group of US lawmakers issued a rare critique against Israel on Friday, citing a rise in attacks on the Christian community in Jerusalem carried out by Israeli perpetrators acting with ‘impunity’.
“In their letter on Friday, the US lawmakers issued a stark warning about attacks on Christians & Christian sites. They cited a December 2020 attempt by an Israeli man to burn the Church of All Nations located on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, along with four acts of vandalism in one month in 2021 against the monastery of the Romanian Church in Jerusalem.“They also drew attention to attacks on Christian clergy, including the May 2021 assault of an Armenian priest by three Israeli youths.“’The actions of radical groups who are able to act with impunity directly threaten the religious freedom of the Christian community in Jerusalem & undermines the rich history of interfaith cooperation within the city,’ the letter said.“In addition, the lawmakers said that a shrinking Christian presence in the holy land would have ramifications for humanitarian issues, as ministry programmes organised under the auspices of the Christian churches in Jerusalem carry out medical, educational, & humanitarian work for people regardless of religious affiliation throughout Israel, the Palestinian territories & Jordan.“The lawmakers called on the State Department ‘to work with the Israeli government to uphold its stated commitment’ to freedom of religion and worship and to hold radical groups accountable for attacks against Christians.”
Apparently the Palestinian flags are banned, and not allowed to be carried/displayed. The same thing occurred during the funeral of assassinated journalist Shireeen Abu Akleh. They are chanting racist slogans, insults to the Prophet, anti Arab hate speech, Jewish supremacy, and right wing hatred, in full display for the world to see.
They look like a large crowd of (frenzied) right wing youth, the next generation of right wing zionists of Israel, looking mean, angry, and out to attack the Palestinians. Why are they so full of hatred and so angry? They have it all, the stolen lands, the illegal settlements, the power over occupied people, and the approval and blessings of their leaders, who control the Western nations. Yet here we are seeing a sea of chanting, angry, privileged people waving their flags and looking very menacing.
The US, UK, and the EU, must be proud that the aid, weapons, and support, they keep giving this rogue nation, have resulted in a nation of rabid hate mongers, who acts like they are entitled to kill, injure, attack, insult, provoke, and spew hatred for others. This seems worse than the white Christian supremacists groups in the US, because Jewish supremacists have the support and protection of their right wing government, unlike the supremacists here.
If there were ANY videos of Palestinians walking in their thousands, carrying Palestinian flags and chanting “Death to Jews”, oy vey, the wailing from the apologists, hasbarists, and the usual drama queens, would have been heard around the world, and we would have heard the words “terrorists” and “anti-semitism” among others.
Planned Jewish nationalist “flag march” is a festival of hate | The Electronic Intifada
“Planned Jewish nationalist ‘flag march’ is a festival of hate” by Tamara Nassar, May 29/22, the Electronic Intifada.
EXCERPTS:
“Thousands of Israeli Jewish nationalists intent on staging a major provocation in occupied East Jerusalem on 29 May, despite warnings from the Palestinian resistance in Gaza.
“The Jewish extremists plan to hold their annual ‘March of the Flags’ on what they call Jerusalem Day, an Israeli-invented holiday celebrating its occupation & colonization of the city in 1967.
“In previous years, the event has been a festival of hate, with marchers, including children terrorizing Palestinian residents & chanting such genocidal slogans as ‘death to the Arabs,’ Let Palestine be ‘wiped out‘ & ‘Muhammad is dead’ – a denigrating reference to the prophet.
“Fully knowing this, Israeli police have nonetheless approved a route for Sunday that would allow the Jewish extremists to march through the Muslim Quarter of the Old City, as they have done in previous years.
“But occupation authorities have said they will ‘cap’ the number of marchers to 16,000.
“’Half the group will march through the Old City via the Damascus Gate, while the other half will go through Jaffa Gate, likely only skirting the Muslim Quarter,’ according to The Times of Israel. Israel will also deploy 3,000 officers to ‘secure the rally.’
“But that will offer little comfort to Palestinians, who still face the prospects of thousands of anti-Palestinian extremists, backed by occupation forces, forcing their way through the Old City’s narrow streets.
“The Jewish nationalists also know very well that Israeli police almost never subject them to the kind of brutality regularly used against Palestinians: tear gas, live fire & rubber-coated metal bullets. This means that if they decide to defy police orders, they will be able to do so with impunity.
“Sunday’s march is set to take place despite stern warnings from the Palestinian resistance organization Hamas. Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’ political bureau, said in a pre-recorded message on Monday that the group is prepared to defend the al-Aqsa mosque compound using ‘all capabilities.’ Haniyeh warned ‘the enemy not to commit such crimes,’ adding, ‘Our decision is clear, no hesitation or faltering.’
This is in response to the commenter Gita.
It is NOT Mondoweiss that is lying or malicious, that will be the hasbarists and apologists, who think we are naive or ignorant of facts, and keep linking right wing, anti Muslim sources, and claiming to be the victims.
You lose any credibility when you link a well known right wing conspiracy website.
FACTSHEET: BREITBART NEWS
“IMPACT: Breitbart News is a right-wing media outlet described by its former chairman, Steve Bannon, as a “platform for the alt-right.” The platform strongly supported Donald Trump during the United States’ 2016 presidential election. Breitbart publishes false claims about Muslims, gives voice to anti-Muslim conspiracy theories, and amplifies anti-Muslim writers and activists.” Bridge – A Georgetown University initiative.
You need to change your source of information.
So tell us what do YOU think of state sanctioned terrorism?
“Analysis | Gaza Lives Erased: Israel Is Wiping Out Entire Palestinian Families on PurposeThe numerous incidents of killing entire families in Israeli bombings in Gaza – Parents and children, babies, grandparents, siblings – attest that these were not mistakes. The bombings follow a decision from higher up, backed by the approval of military jurists.
Fifteen Palestinian nuclear and extended families lost at least three, and in general more, of their members, in the Israeli shelling of the Gaza Strip during the week from May 10 through to Monday afternoon. Parents and children, babies, grandparents,siblings and nephews and nieces died together when Israel bombed their homes, which collapsed over them. Insofar as is known, no advance warning was given so that they could evacuate the targeted houses.” Haaretz
In general, terror against Palestinians is the main occupation of Israeli terrorists wearing uniform, and those the US State Department has called “terrorists” from the illegal settlements.
Stop playing the victim it does not work anymore.