Rights and Accountability 30 May 2022
Israeli Jewish extremists marching through the Old City of Jerusalem to celebrate its occupation and colonization, on 29 May 2022.
ZUMA Press WireTens of thousands of Israeli Jewish ultranationalists marched through Jerusalem on Sunday to demonstrate their hatred towards Palestinians and assert dominance over the militarily occupied city.
Many attacked Palestinians and chanted for genocide.
This was part of the annual “March of the Flags” on Jerusalem Day, a holiday invented by Israel to celebrate its occupation and colonization of the city in 1967.
Over 2,600 extremists entered the al-Aqsa mosque compound on Sunday, an unprecedented number, according to Israeli media.
A large crowd also gathered at the iconic Damascus Gate to Jerusalem’s Old City, waving the flags of Israel and the anti-Palestinian Jewish nationalist group Lehava: Israeli Jews began their provocations early in the day. Reporters noted that they were more violent and confrontational on Sunday than in previous years.Footage shared by Haaretz journalist Nir Hasson shows Israelis throwing a chair and other objects at Palestinians, who throw objects back:
Another widely shared video shows an Israeli youth pulling out pepper spray and using it on a Palestinian woman at close range: Many in the mob chanted “death to the Arabs,” “May your village burn,” and “Muhammad is dead” – a denigrating reference to the prophet. These are common chants heard year after year. Israeli Jews can even be heard chanting “Muhammad is dead” while paramedics carry a wounded Palestinian on a stretcher through a narrow street in the Old City. It is noticeable that all the shops, typically owned by Palestinians, are closed – unable to do business because of the invasion. Another video shows a mob, which appears to include children, chanting “A Jew is a soul, an Arab is a son of a whore.” In this clip, one of the Jewish extremists, laughing and clapping, tells journalists “there is no Shireen, Shireen is dead.” This is a reference to the killing of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh by all indications at the hands of an Israeli soldier earlier this month.Ateret Cohanim – a settler group heavily involved in the ethnic cleansing of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood – set up a free food stand in the Old City.
Other videos show flags of Lehava, a Jewish extremist group whose focus is preventing mixing of Jews and non-Jews. Lehava and its ultra-radicalized youth are a regular presence at Israel’s frequent “death to the Arabs” marches.In this video, a Jewish extremist brandishes a handgun at a group of Palestinians, which included journalists, near Damascus Gate. Another marcher pepper sprays a Palestinian woman in the face for no apparent reason:
Resistance restraint
Backed by current and former Israeli political leaders and under the protection of the Israeli police, Jewish extremists took a deliberately provocative route through the Muslim Quarter of the Old City, as they have done in previous years, ending the march at the Western Wall.
The march was larger than in previous years but like earlier occasions, it included many children. An estimated 25,000 people participated, far exceeding the 16,000 limit supposedly imposed by Israeli police.The march is intended to demonstrate Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem, after Palestinian resistance groups last year launched a major military operation from Gaza, the first specifically intended to respond to Israeli aggression in the city.
In response to Israel’s refusal to end its ethnic cleansing and other attacks in Jerusalem, Hamas fired rockets toward the city on 10 May 2021, when that year’s “March of the Flags” was originally scheduled, but quickly had to be canceled.This was viewed as a significant defeat for Israel, which responded by intensely bombarding Gaza for 11 days, killing more than 250 Palestinians.
The march did eventually go ahead last June, but the police did not approve a route through the Muslim Quarter.
In spite of warnings this year by Hamas that Israel’s constant provocations in Jerusalem could escalate into a full-scale war, Israeli authorities allowed the march, fully aware of the possible consequences.
No rockets were fired from Gaza on Sunday, in what can be interpreted as an effort by resistance groups to avoid a full-blown war.
Nonetheless, starting early in the day Jewish nationalists roamed through the Old City and the al-Aqsa mosque compound under heavy police protection, waving flags and chanting.
A number of former and current Israeli leaders joined in provocations on Sunday, including former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and extreme right-wing Israeli lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir.
“Us or them”
The annual march generally draws the most openly racist and fanatical segments of Israeli society, but the settler-colonial attitudes they represent are widely shared.
An exchange between a hairdresser and her client on Sunday reported in The Jerusalem Post reflects the casual genocidal racism prevalent in Israeli society.
“But, you know, Corona wasn’t the real virus here. You know what the real virus is? Arabs,” the hairdresser reportedly said.
“You know, I think that the police would come after me if they knew what I was thinking.”
“They are a virus and they need to be rounded up and put in extermination camps,” the stylist added. “There’s no way that we’re going to be able to live together. It’s us or them.”
Comments
USA support
Permalink Nel replied on
USA support to violence is bad.
a just peace
Permalink Mary Allen replied on
I firmly believe that a just peace for Palestinians and Israelis can be managed. I believe the majority of the inhabitants of historic Palestine want peace, and that they will enjoy mutual prosperity when they agree to go back to their traditional respect for each other a human beings. It worked before!
"Us or them"
Permalink Arifa replied on
“They are a virus and they need to be rounded up and put in extermination camps,” the stylist added. “There’s no way that we’re going to be able to live together. It’s us or them.”
It seems that the lesson of the Nazi holocaust for the Jewish Nationalists is that they can be just as cruel, as hateful, as hardhearted and as devoid of all decency as the Nazis. The Israelis are playing the Nazi playbook to the letter, in their thoughts if not yet in all the details (death-camps and gas chambers).
How can our (US) government not see this? How can "we" (the US government) keep supporting and propping up this genocidal rogue debacle of a nation (Israel). It's time for their sick superiority fantasy to end. Let's be done with this nightmare already. Let Israel study peace, turn their swords into plowshares and take the first huge step towards learning to live with our whole human family as neighbors and friends. This should be the true lesson of the Nazi holocaust: Never again! Inshallah.
chants
Permalink Stephen Shenfield replied on
Other significant chants I noticed were: 'Bahrain is with us,' 'Morocco is with us,' etc., referring to the Arab countries that have recently recognized Israel and by so doing strengthened the hand of these 'ultra-nationalists' (aka fascists). And one man was promising that a 'second Nakba' would be coming soon. The leaders of the main Israeli fascist parties and movements seem to be following a definite strategy of upping the ante step by step, assessing the international reaction at each step to see how far they can go. So far so good from their point of view.
Flag March
Permalink Dean Olson replied on
Putin can be sanctioned, arms supplied to Ukraine by U.S. and other NATO countries, massive support of nations for what Putin is doing to Ukraine, and not a peep, not a word of condemnation for the appalling actions of Apartheid Israel, the abusive Occupier and continued stealer of Palestinian land and Palestinian rights, let alone the out right killing of Palestinians, intrusive and restrictive hurdles they continually place before the Palestinians and outright theft of their homes. NADA in condemnations from nations, especially the United States. It's disgraceful.