Jerusalem Day Flag March Reached a New Low: Mocking the Dead Children of Gaza
This year was no different. These groups attacked Palestinian shops and passersby, as well as journalists and anyone they identified as “leftists.” Activists from organizations like Standing Together, Looking the Occupation in the Eye, and Ir Amim, who came to try to protect Palestinians and their property, became easy targets. Many were spat on, cursed, or physically assaulted. In most cases, police chose to remove the activists rather than the rioters.
When the number of rioters grew and the situation threatened to spiral completely out of control, a Border Police officer managing the scene decided to act. For the first time since I can remember, police used batons to push back the rioters. One youth was arrested with considerable force. This rare show of aggression temporarily calmed the situation, but it was the exception that proved the rule. Once again, despite police promises to crack down on violence and racism, the authorities showed remarkable tolerance.
While National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvirentered the Old City under heavy police protection, dozens of youths around him shouted, “Death to Arabs.” Not one was arrested for incitement. On Jerusalem Day, incitement laws are effectively suspended.
The repertoire of racist songs shifted slightly this year. The dominant chants remained the familiar ones: “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,” with the final words shouted while flagpoles slammed against metal doors). But new songs were added to the mix, including: “There’s no school in Gaza, there’s no children left,” “Let the IDF fuck the Arabs,” and “Flatten Gaza.”
Contrary to claims from religious-nationalist leaders, this hate is not the work of a small fringe. The true minority is composed of those who stick to songs of faith and Jerusalem. Once again this year, I struggled to find any group that refrained from racist chants. Im Tirtzu (IMTI), an organization affiliated with the Likud party rather than the far-right Otzma Yehudit, proudly displayed a giant banner at the entrance to the Old City reading “No Nakba, No Victory.”
These words also appeared on marchers’ T-shirts. It’s worth noting that all of this was funded by the Jerusalem Municipality, which allocated 700,000 shekels –without a public tender – to the organization behind the march.
This is the 17th year I’ve covered the Flag March. Last year, I wrote: “The Flag March on Jerusalem Day is an accurate thermometer of the condition of Israeli society. It measures the levels of hatred, racism, and violence in the religious Zionist society and the tolerance of the police and the rest of society to these traits. This year’s diagnosis is terminal.” Unfortunately, I was not mistaken.
In the year since, Israeli society has plummeted further into darkness, enabling the mass killing of tens of thousands of innocents in Gaza, including thousands of children. Just two nights ago, the IDF bombed the Fahmi al-Jarjawi school. In the photographs, a small girl is seen walking through flames; the charred bodies of children are being removed from the wreckage. Thirty-one people were killed there.
There is a straight line that connects the crude racism, violence, and cruelty unleashed every Jerusalem Day with the horrors unfolding in Gaza. This year, again, the prognosis is very bleak.
Nir Hasson is a reporter for Haaretz.
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