By Guillermo Azábal and Patricia Martínez
Jerusalem (EFE).- Hundreds of Jewish ultranationalists, mostly teenagers, took the Old City on «Jerusalem Day,» Thursday, commemorating 59 years since the Israeli occupation of eastern Jerusalem after the Six-Day War, shouting supremacist slogans such as «Death to Arabs» and «May their villages burn.»
Tens of thousands of religious Zionists, ultranationalists, and settlers will gather in the coming hours for the anniversary, also known as the «March of Flags.»
Like every year, they will cross the Muslim Quarter of the Old City, insulting, harassing, and spitting at Palestinians, who make up about 40% of Jerusalem’s population.
«Arabs can live here, but under our rules. It’s like if you want to live in North Korea: You can’t just go there and live there. Israel belongs to the Jews, and Palestinians must live here under our mandate,» Erez, a young man studying at a pre-military academy in Modi’in, 40 kilometers (24 miles) from Jerusalem, told EFE.
Standing next to Erez, Ariel, one of his friends, also claimed Jewish sovereignty over all of Jerusalem. Israel keeps the eastern part of the city under military control, and Palestinians do not enjoy citizenship; they are only legal residents.
«They stole the city from us. We have always been here. It is our city and our land, given to us by God,» Ariel added.
Palestinians close their businesses in the Old City
The «March of Flags» runs from the Damascus Gate to the Western Wall, crossing through the heart of the Muslim Quarter of the Old City, forcing its merchants and residents to close their businesses for fear of violence from the «Hilltop Youth,» who are settlers from the West Bank that terrorize Palestinians there as well.
«It’s impossible to stay here. I tried it in previous years and suffered damage. It is an appliance store, and it’s not worth it. Clearly, I wouldn’t sell anything either because customers are afraid,» said Abdin, the owner of a store in the Muslim Quarter who closed his business today (Thursday).
A few meters away, Khalid, who has managed a crafts store for 30 years, was also reluctant.
«During the war with Iran, the police made me throw away wooden products that said ‘Palestine.’ This week, they came and pressured me not to open. So I prefer to leave it like this,» he said.
Although the celebration of «Jerusalem Day» was initially mainly patriotic and military, since the 1970s, it has increasingly become a demonstration of force by those most closely linked to religious Zionist supremacism.
Slogans such as «revenge against the Palestinians» and «may your mosques burn» are shouted by religious youth as they jump and dance. They arrived in the Holy City by bus from all over the country with their institutes’ and pre-military academy tutors.
Questionable «security»
The Israeli police issued a statement saying that they had deployed thousands of officers, border patrol agents, and volunteers to «guarantee the security» of the event. However, EFE witnessed different activists and journalists being verbally abused and attacked by young settlers.
As of Thursday, the Israeli-Palestinian pacifist organization «Standing Together» deployed hundreds of volunteers due to the «abandonment» by the Israeli police under the command of ultranationalist National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is also a settler.
Ben Gvir participated in the event, as he did in 2025, and was permitted to enter the Esplanade of the Mosques, the third holiest site in Islam, with an Israeli flag. There, he declared Israeli «dominion» over this sacred place in the Old City.
«As a Jew, I observe what is happening. This is a holy city that I love dearly, and it is supposed to symbolize justice and peace. However, many of the people marching here today are not peaceful. They are desecrating the name of the city,» said Ori Weisberg, a Jerusalem resident and Standing Together volunteer, in an interview with EFE.
Standing in a similar position within the march, Iccy, a 19-year-old friend of Erez and Ariel, confirmed EFE that the violence of the adolescent settlers «does not represent the majority of Jews.»
«They are too young to have their own opinion. Their parents have brainwashed them, and they don’t think for themselves. It gives a horrible image of the country, and it’s one of the main reasons why people don’t like Jews or Israel,» he told EFE. EFE
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