Uri Weltmann was tense. He’s the national field director for Standing Together, an organisation of Jewish and Palestinian peace activists, who had gathered to resist the tens of thousands of far-right Jewish marchers heading for occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City.He had reason to be worried. ‘Jerusalem Day’, marked by Jewish Israelis every year to celebrate the 1967 capture and subsequent illegal occupation of the city, has become an opportunity for thousands to be bussed in from across Israel and the occupied West Bank to participate in the ‘Flag March’, where they maraud through the Old City and attack Palestinians – as well as Jewish peace activists. Palestinians from outside the Old City were not allowed in by police.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of listThis year’s event on Thursday saw fighting break out even before the march officially began, as ultranationalist Israelis – many of them young teenagers – attacked Palestinians in the Christian Quarter. The Israelis vandalised property, and Israeli police forced Palestinian shop owners to close.Many other Palestinian businesses had already closed for the day, fearing attacks and harassment.“It’s gotten much more extreme since October 7,” said Weltmann, referring to the Hamas-led attack on Israel in 2023, which led to Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.Weltmann and approximately 200 other Standing Together activists, wearing purple vests, attempted to stand between the far-ri …
