About 20 thousand Israeli nationalists, most of them very young, escorted by 3 thousand police officers, marched as they do every year in the Muslim quarter of East Jerusalem, in the Old City, to celebrate Reunification Day, on the occasion of the anniversary of the six-war of 1967 with which the Israeli army occupied the Egyptian Sinai, the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Syrian Golan Heights. Over time, the “march of the flags” has become a showdown for extremists, a parade that the Muslim community considers offensive and which often results in violence and clashes in the narrow streets of the old city. In a delicate year like this, eight months after Hamas' attack on Israel and the Netanyahu government's response with bombing of the Gaza Strip, the celebration was likely to be even more delicate and dangerous. And the reality did not betray expectations, especially because there was no deviation from the traditional route which sees the procession from the Damascus Gate to the Western Wall. As he writes Israel Times, accidents also occurred this year. Far-right supporters threw stones at the windows and shops of the Arab community, chanting slogans such as “Death to the Arabs”, “let your village burn”. Then encouraged by the words of the leader of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, Itamar Ben Gvir. “We must hit them in the most important place for them, we must come and say 'the Temple Mount is ours and Jerusalem is ours',” anticipated the ultranationalist Minister of National Security, who then called the Prime Minister Netanyahu calls for an expansion of military action in the Gaza Strip and the north against Hezbollah in Lebanon. At the end of the march, at least 18 people were arrested for acts of violence committed during the celebrations, during which journalists and Palestinian residents were also attacked. Among the demonstrators were also peace associations, such as Stnading Together, which tried to limit the damage by taking sides themselves.
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