Thousands of Israeli ultranationalists march through the Old City for Jerusalem Day

The Old City of Jerusalem, a walled nucleus sacred to Jews, Muslims, and Christians, has once again become a funnel of ultranationalist chants, pushes, and insults. Since noon, thousands of young ultranationalist Jews – many of them settlers who arrived from different parts of Israel and the West Bank – have flooded the narrow streets of the Muslim quarter during their celebration of Jerusalem Day, the day on which Israel commemorates the conquest of East Jerusalem in 1967, the part of the city with a Muslim majority.The result, one more year, has been a show of force loaded with tension, intimidation, and verbal violence against Palestinians, activists, and journalists. Amidst the morning chaos, several groups of volunteers from the Jewish-Arab movement against the occupation, Standing Together, were trying to form a human barrier between ultranationalist groups and Palestinians. “We act as a protective presence. We try to stop violence with non-violent techniques, with our bodies. We know we can be arrested, but we don't want to leave the city in the hands of extremists or further divide Jerusalem,” explained one of the organization's activists. According to him, the movement has grown year after year to be 400 strong today.In the early afternoon, the swarm of ultranationalist Jews entering through the Damascus Gate, the entrance connecting East Jerusalem with the Muslim Quarter and the main access for Palestinians to the Old City, was impressive: human rivers of flags advanced slowly amidst dances, drums, and chants. "We need another Nakba" or "May your people burn" were some of the main slogans. "We must eliminate them [the Arabs] because they want to kill us. It is our day," said one of the few demonstrators who agreed to speak with the press.Entire buses have unloaded groups of young people wearing kippahs – the typical hat of Jews – carrying giant banners, Israeli flags, and flags of the Third Temple, a religious symbol used by messianic movements that advocate for the construction of a Jewish temple on the Temple Mount, the site where the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam, stands today. Mid-afternoon, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir arrived at the march to applause after visiting the Temple Mount during the morning. Shortly after, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich also joined. As every year, the marches ended at the Western Wall.However, not all participants in the march shared the more radical chants. "We are celebrating the unification of the city and the aggressive ones are isolated cases," defended a young man with an Israeli flag over his shoulders. "I believe there is a peaceful solution under Israeli control for the entire city. I don't like Palestinians being beaten," he added.Throughout the day, Palestinian businesses in the Muslim quarter have closed. “It’s as if for a few hours the city stopped being ours”, said the owner of a small, almost empty grocery store. “I’m not afraid, but today it’s better to stay open as little as possible”, he affirmed. According to the authorities, more than 4,000 agents, including soldiers and police, have been deployed to secure this part of the city.Israel dissolves Parliament

The tension in the streets coincides with a delicate political moment: this Wednesday the parties of Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition have registered a bill to dissolve the Israeli Parliament early and call elections, in a maneuver with which Netanyahu tries to control the pace of the political crisis before the opposition capitalizes on the internal rupture of the government, according to Israeli media. The text proposes holding elections within a minimum period of ninety days after the law's approval, which would open the door to elections as early as the end of August or the beginning of September, instead of October.The crisis has been triggered by the conflict with the ultra-Orthodox parties over the exemption from compulsory military service. After months of negotiations without agreement, the ultra-Orthodox faction Degel HaTorah announced this week that it would support dissolving Parliament in the face of the government's inability to pass a law guaranteeing the military exemption for the ultra-Orthodox. Next week, the bill will undergo a first vote. If it overcomes this first hurdle, the proposal will have to pass three more votes before officially triggering the election call.