Tens of thousands of Israeli hate marchers and ultranationalists rampaged through the streets of occupied East Jerusalem on Thursday during the so-called “Jerusalem Day” march, chanting “Death to Arabs” and “May your villages burn”, as terrified Palestinian residents barricaded themselves indoors and shuttered their shops in fear of attack.
The annual procession, which marks Israel’s illegal capture and subsequent annexation of East Jerusalem during the 1967 war, saw mobs of mostly young Israelis – many draped in Israeli flags – pour through the narrow alleyways of the Old City, pounding on the metal shutters of Palestinian-owned businesses and confronting anyone who stood in their way.
The annexation of East Jerusalem, whose residents are overwhelmingly Palestinian, has never been recognised by the UN and is considered a violation of international law.
Read: Pan-Islamic grouping condemns Israel ‘Flag March’ in East Jerusalem
Despite its official framing by Israeli authorities as a celebration of the “reunification” of the city, the march has, over successive years, mutated into one of the most openly racist public events in the Israeli calendar. Its widely viewed as a ritualised display of supremacy aimed squarely at the Palestinian population it is designed to intimidate.
