Ultranationalist March in Jerusalem Sparks Tensions

Ultranationalist Jews marched through Jerusalem's Old City on Thursday, chanting racist slogans such as 'Death to Arabs' and 'May your villages burn,' according to multiple reports. The annual event, known as Jerusalem Day, commemorates Israel's capture of East Jerusalem during the 1967 Mideast war. Israeli police barricaded parts of the plaza for journalists but allowed the march to proceed.

The young, mostly male group marched under the watch of Israeli police. Normally a bustling marketplace for Palestinian residents, the area was devoid of Palestinians as many had barricaded themselves inside their homes and closed their shops for safety. The procession often leads to violent confrontations between ultranationalists and Palestinian residents.

Scuffles broke out when groups of young marchers entered the Old City before the start of the march, encountering Palestinians in the Christian quarter. They threw chairs at each other until activists from Standing Together, an Israeli-Palestinian coexistence group, intervened to stop the confrontation. Another group opposed to extremist Jewish violence called Tag Meir held an annual 'flower march' before the crowds descended, handing out flowers to shopkeepers before they closed early.

Earlier in the day, Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir staged a provocative visit to Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site, the hilltop compound that is home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque. He raised an Israeli flag and sang 'the Temple Mount is in our hands,' referencing a famous statement from 1967. His visit threatened to inflame tensions that are rife in the city after two and a half years of near-constant war and fragile ceasefires.