Building and Blocking on Jerusalem Day

Photo Credit: Shira Ben-Sasson Furstenberg

Nir Hasson is Haaretz’s East Jerusalem correspondent. He has been covering Israel’s Jerusalem Day “Flag March” through the Old City of Jerusalem for 17 years. Last year he wrote the following: 

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.

This year, unfortunately, he again turned out to be right. The march was produced this year, as it has been for many years, by the NGO “Am K’Lavi,” chaired by Baruch Kahane, son of the deceased American extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane. The NGO and the march itself are funded by the Jerusalem Municipality.

Gadi Gvaryahu, head of Tag Meir, an NIF grantee that works to combat hate and racism, said that funding the NGO is the municipality’s way of “hiding” behind a private organization so that it can “avoid responsibility for the violence and property damage.” Indeed, the march has become increasingly violent over the years, a magnet for radical hilltop youth, the far-right soccer fan club La Familia, and others. And while the racist cheers and songs fill the air, they also attack Palestinian property, breaking, stealing, smashing, and vandalizing. 

NIF’s grantees were on the scene, many of them standing between right-wing youth and the Palestinians who live in the Old City. Activists from organizations like Standing Together, Looking the Occupation in the Eye, and Ir Amim, were thus also targets. Many were spat on, cursed, or physically assaulted. And, according to reports, police mostly chose to remove the activists rather than the rioters.

Before the march began, Tag Meir volunteers came to the Old City to hand out flowers to the residents. It was the organization’s 10th year doing the Flower Parade. “A little light pushes away a lot of darkness,” said NIF Associate Director in Israel, Shira Ben-Sasson Furstenberg.

As Shira walked through the streets and alleyways of the Old City she saw warm smiles, got some thank-yous, and some people were visibly emotional. Alongside the flowers, Tag Meir volunteers distributed leaflets explaining the complexity of this day for Jerusalem’s Muslim and Christian residents—and their shared desire to live in peace.