{"id":42688,"date":"2023-05-19T13:47:54","date_gmt":"2023-05-19T21:47:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=42688"},"modified":"2023-05-19T13:47:54","modified_gmt":"2023-05-19T21:47:54","slug":"death-to-arabs-chants-as-far-right-israeli-settlers-lawmakers-march-on-flag-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2023\/05\/19\/death-to-arabs-chants-as-far-right-israeli-settlers-lawmakers-march-on-flag-day\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Death to Arabs&#8217; Chants as Far-Right Israeli Settlers, Lawmakers March on Flag Day"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Israeli government officials including far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir joined tens of thousands of ultra-nationalists participating in Thursday&#8217;s inflammatory &#8220;Flag March&#8221; in occupied East Jerusalem, an event at which police and demonstrators attacked Palestinians and journalists while chanting slogans including &#8220;death to Arabs&#8221; and &#8220;your village will be burned.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Ben-Gvir, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and Transport Minister Miri Regev were among the Israeli officials who took part in the annual march, which celebrates Israel&#8217;s conquest and illegal occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Marcher Limor Son Har-Melech, a lawmaker from Ben Gvir&#8217;s far-right Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/triumphalism-and-ethno-nationalism-take-center-stage-at-jerusalem-day-events\/\">told<\/a><i> The Times of Israel<\/i> that she was participating to celebrate &#8220;our victory over the Arabs.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">When referring to the upcoming \u201cJerusalem Day\u201d or flag day march, this is what we\u2019re talking about: an anti-Palestinian hate fest that includes attacking homes, businesses &amp; Palestinians. It is an exhibition of unadulterated hate and racism. Beyond inflammatory. Video from 2021 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/A3y941NBUs\">pic.twitter.com\/A3y941NBUs<\/a><\/p>\n<p> &mdash; Nour Odeh ???? #NojusticeNopeace (@nour_odeh) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nour_odeh\/status\/1658951667952283651?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 17, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>In Gaza, Israeli forces used live and &#8220;less lethal&#8221; munitions to break up a Palestinian demonstration that took place along the besieged strip&#8217;s border with Israel, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2023\/5\/18\/israel-fires-on-palestinians-protesting-flag-march-in-gaza\">according to<\/a><i> Al Jazeera<\/i>. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We will not surrender and we will continue to demand our rights and defend our occupied lands and our sanctities in Jerusalem,&#8221; Palestinian protester Osama Abu Qamar told the Qatar-based news network. <\/p>\n<p>The Jerusalem-based NGO Ir Amim called the Israeli demonstrations a &#8220;display of incitement, Jewish dominance, and racism.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Israeli marchers threw rocks at journalists, hitting at least two reporters in the head and wounding them, <i>Middle East Eye<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.middleeasteye.net\/news\/israel-palestine-jerusalem-attack-divisive-far-right-flag-march\"> reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Us journalists are under attack by participants in the flag march in <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Jerusalem?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Jerusalem<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p> They cheer every time they hit us with projectiles. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/7XhEycalib\">pic.twitter.com\/7XhEycalib<\/a><\/p>\n<p> &mdash; R???????? ???????????????? (@rosiescammell) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rosiescammell\/status\/1659212156716613632?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 18, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><i>Middle East Eye<\/i> said that marchers in Jerusalem&#8217;s Old City beat Palestinian residents, and when Israeli police intervened, they assaulted Palestinian victims under attack instead of protecting them. <\/p>\n<p>March participants stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque \u2013 one of the holiest sites to both Muslims and Jews \u2013 and insulted the prophet Mohammed, who Muslims believe was the messenger of God. <\/p>\n<p>Ofer Cassif, an Israeli lawmaker from the left-wing Hadash coalition, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.haaretz.com\/israel-news\/2023-05-18\/ty-article-live\/.premium\/hundreds-of-jews-visit-temple-mount-thousands-more-expected-to-attend-flag-march-in-jlem\/00000188-2db9-df65-abfc-edb9ad300000\">called<\/a> the flag march a &#8220;violent parade presented as a joyous dance.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Rioting gangs backed by Ben-Gvir and the fascist government are bullying Arabs to show them who&#8217;s in charge, &#8220;Cassif told <i>Haaretz<\/i>. &#8220;This is disgusting Kahanism in its peak.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Israel&#39;s right wing uses Flag Day to violently remind Palestinians each year that Israel will stop at nothing to kick them out of their own homeland.<\/p>\n<p> They fly Israel&#39;s national symbol as a symbol of Palestinian exclusion.<\/p>\n<p> That&#39;s apartheid.<\/p>\n<p> &mdash; IMEU (@theIMEU) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/theIMEU\/status\/1659210200279289860?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 18, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Cassif was referring to the Jewish supremacist movement once led by Meir Kahane, the Orthodox rabbi convicted of terrorism before being <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1990\/11\/06\/obituaries\/meir-kahane-58-israeli-militant-and-founder-of-the-jewish-defense-league.html\">assassinated<\/a> in 1990. Ben-Gvir was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/israel\/ben-gvir-convicted-of-inciting-to-racism\">convicted<\/a> in 2007 of incitement to racism and supporting the Kahanist terror group Kach after he advocated the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. <\/p>\n<p> There were other Israeli marches in cities and towns including Lod \u2013 known to Palestinians as Lydda \u2013 site of a 1948 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.counterpunch.org\/2018\/07\/16\/the-lydda-death-march-and-the-israeli-state-of-denial\/\">massacre and death march<\/a> as Jewish militias seized control of the area. <\/p>\n<p> Thursday&#8217;s marches came three days after, and stood in stark contrast with, Palestinians&#8217; commemoration of Nakba Day, a remembrance of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.counterpunch.org\/2018\/05\/11\/the-dark-side-of-israeli-independence\/\">ethnic cleansing of more than 750,000 Arabs<\/a> from over 400 villages \u2013 sometimes by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.counterpunch.org\/2018\/04\/12\/deir-yassin-the-massacre-that-sparked-the-nakba\/\">massacres<\/a> \u2013 during the foundation of the modern Israeli state in 1948. For the first time ever, the United Nations <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/united-nations-nakba\">officially commemorated<\/a> the Nakba.<\/p>\n<p><i>Brett Wilkins is is staff writer for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/\">Common Dreams<\/a>. Based in San Francisco, his work covers issues of social justice, human rights and war and peace. This originally appeared at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/\">CommonDreams<\/a> and is reprinted with the author&#8217;s permission.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Israeli government officials including far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir joined tens of thousands of ultra-nationalists participating in Thursday&#8217;s inflammatory &#8220;Flag March&#8221; in occupied East Jerusalem, an event at which police and demonstrators attacked Palestinians and journalists while chanting slogans including &#8220;death to Arabs&#8221; and &#8220;your village will be burned.&#8221; Ben-Gvir, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":372,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-42688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":{"disable_donate_message":"","custom_donate_message":"","subtitle":"\"It is an exhibition of unadulterated hate and racism,\" said one Palestinian activist. \"Beyond inflammatory.\""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/372"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42688"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42691,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42688\/revisions\/42691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42688"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=42688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}