ALBAWABA - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that the controversial Jerusalem Day Flag march will be taking place on Thursday as decided, with its original route through the streets of Jerusalem passing through the Muslim Quarter.
The Israeli police recruited around 2,000 policemen and 1,000 security personnel to secure the march through the old city of Jerusalem. The parade is annually organized by far-right nationalists and religious organizations to commemorate Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem during the 1967 war.
"The flag march will continue as planned, as usual, on its route," Netanyahu said in a Knesset session on Monday.
Four Israeli ministers are scheduled to attend; far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and Minister of Transport and Road Safety of Israel Miri Regev.
Last week, Returning to the Mount organization filed an official request with the aim that the march reaches Al-Aqsa mosque.
Moreover, far-right Israeli organizations said they will be leading 5,000 Israelis to storm the Al-Aqsa mosque, on Thursday, the same day of the march.
On the Palestinian side, this march has always been perceived as provocative, as it always sparks clashes between marchers and Jerusalemites. Islamic Jihad demanded, on multiple occasions, for the Jerusalem Day Flag match not to reach the Muslim Quarter in the old city as part of the cease-fire agreement with Israel that put an end to the Israeli aggression against Gaza later on Saturday.
According to The Times of Israel, the flag march this Thursday will begin in Jerusalem’s city center, enter the Old City from the Damascus Gate in the Muslim Quarter and proceed toward the Jewish Quarter ending up in the Western Wall plaza.
Calls to violence and racist chants are usually sung by marchers, including “Death to Arabs” and “They are only Arabs, they are only fleas."
The 2021 march was cut short as riots broke out in Jerusalem, which led the Israeli police to block the entrance to the Old City, a main part of the march. As the march continued, rockets were shot from Gaza, leading to sirens breaking through all of Jerusalem. Following that, Israeli police dispersed the march. However, that did not stop the marchers from holding a rally right by the western wall.
In 2022, the number of marchers was about 16,000, half of them went through the Damascus Gate down to El Wad HaGai, and the other half went through the Jaffa Gate.
Bentzi Gopstein, head of Lehava, an anti-assimilation organization, called for that day to mark the start to demolish the Dome of the Rock. Gopstein’s call was accompanied by a designed invitation that showed a bulldozer ravaging through the Dome of the Rock.
History of Jerusalem Day Flag
The history of the Jerusalem Day Flag parade dates back to May 1968, when it used to be held at night by Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook and his followers. They marched to the Western Wall through Jaffa Gate. Later on, it was moved to be held during the daytime, to allow more people to take part in it.
