Police to decide whether to allow nationalist flag march in Jerusalem

Israeli politicians and Hamas are warning against allowing the postponed Jerusalem Day flag march rescheduled for Thursday in the Old City to take place.

A briefing by police officials is scheduled for Sunday to approve the march and its exact route, which is again scheduled to pass through the Damascus Gate near the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. A final decision may not be made until later in the week, Kan News reported.

A post on social media over the weekend invited people to join Thursday’s march, saying: “The flag march is returning big time!... Returning to march in the streets of Jerusalem with our heads held high and with Israeli flags.”

The traditional Jerusalem Day march was postponed May 11 amid rising tension on the Temple Mount and nearby Sheikh Jarrah, as well as the outbreak of war with Hamas and the onset of Operation Guardian of the Walls after Hamas fired rockets toward Jerusalem that day.

Various politicians called on Police Commissioner Koby Shabtai to prevent the march from taking place, claiming that it has a political agenda behind it and may lead to more violence.

Yesh Atid MK Ram Ben Barak addressed the timing of the planned march, arguing that it was meant to prevent the forming of the coalition led by Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid and Yamina leader Naftali Bennett.

He argued that the march would only lead to renewed tensions, and that its purpose is solely to prevent or delay the coalition by instigating violence and further dividing Israeli society.

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הבוקר בשבת תרבות במודיעין בהנחייתה של @DaphnaLiel אמרתי כי אנחנו בתחילתם של ימים קשים שיופעל בהם הרבה לחץ וניסיונות להכשיל את ממשלת השינוי, אבל בסופם יתחיל פה עידן חדש. הרצון להקים ממשלה שתאחה את הפילוג בציבור הישראלי יגבר על כל הניסיונות להכשילה. pic.twitter.com/2JyKyhSB1d

— Ram Ben Barak (@Ram_Ben_Barak) June 5, 2021

 

 “The desire to form a government that would unite the Israeli public will overcome any attempt to prevent it,” Ben Barak wrote in a Twitter post.

Meretz leader Nitzan Horowitz attacked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for trying to “burn down the country on his way out of Balfour,” adding: “Netanyahu has lost it, and is turning out to be a real danger to the security of Israeli citizens.”

Ahmad Tibi, chairman of the Joint List faction, said that his party has sent an urgent letter to Public Security Minister Amir Ohana and to Shabtai, urging them not to allow what he called “a march of hatred titled a flag march” from taking place.

Hamas spokesman in Jerusalem Muhammad Hamada called on Hamas operatives in the Old City to come out to protest. “We call on our people to hold mass protests at al-Aqsa Mosque on Thursday,” the spokesman said in a statement.

Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar threatened to “burn Israel to the ground” if al-Aqsa is threatened again.

The Islamic Jihad Movement also issued a warning, referring to the march as “hostile actions against the Palestinian people and the Palestinian land.” It called on Palestinians to “increase presence at al-Aqsa and to confront any attempt of breaching it.”

Tensions had begun in east Jerusalem prior to the Jerusalem Day Flag March, as 28 Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah were awaiting a High Court ruling on whether they will be evicted from their homes for non-payment of rent. The High Court has given Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit until June 8 to submit his opinion on Sheikh Jarrah.

In addition, Border Police saw intense clashes with worshipers and rioters at al-Aqsa Mosque, during which police used stun grenades inside the mosque to clear protesters who had collected rocks inside the mosque to use as weapons.