Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Bill Moyers, Broadcaster and LBJ’s White House Press Secretary, Dies at 91

16 hours ago

S&P 500, Nasdaq Near Record Highs as Rate-Cut Bets Creep Up

22 hours ago

Bobby Sherman, Easygoing Teen Idol of the 1960s and ’70s, Dies at 81

22 hours ago

Cargo Ship That Caught Fire Carrying Electric Vehicles Sinks in the Pacific

22 hours ago

US Supreme Court Backs South Carolina Effort to Defund Planned Parenthood

22 hours ago

4 Million Acres of California Forests Could Lose Protection. What Trump’s ‘Roadless Rule’ Repeal Could Do

2 days ago

West Nile Virus Detected in Mosquitoes in Fresno County

2 days ago

Fresno Residents Join Nationwide Fast to Call Attention to Gaza Crisis

2 days ago

Suspect in Bombing at California Fertility Clinic Dies in Federal Custody

3 days ago
Israeli Nationalists March in Palestinian Area of Jerusalem, Some Chanting 'Death to Arabs'
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 1 year ago on
June 5, 2024

Thousands of ultranationalist Israelis marched through a sensitive Palestinian area in Jerusalem, chanting inflammatory slogans amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, with significant police presence to prevent unrest. (AP/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

JERUSALEM — Thousands of mostly ultranationalist Israelis were taking part in an annual march through a sensitive Palestinian area of Jerusalem on Wednesday, with some stoking already surging wartime tensions by chanting “Death to Arabs.”

Annual March Started Outside of the Damascus Gate

Jerusalem, the emotional heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, has been mostly calm throughout the Israel-Hamas war. But the annual march, seen as provocative by Palestinians, could ignite broader unrest, as it did three years ago, when it helped set off an 11-day war in Gaza.

Marchers convening outside the Damascus Gate, a central gathering place for Palestinians in east Jerusalem, chanted anti-Arab and anti-Islamic slogans, danced and waved Israeli flags as the procession kicked off.

Just before the march began, crowds scuffled with police and threw plastic bottles at a journalist wearing a vest with the word PRESS emblazoned on it. Police said they arrested five marchers for throwing objects at journalists.

The march was taking place as tensions over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza are high. The war began with Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel, in which militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 hostages. Israel responded with a massive offensive that has killed over 36,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, displaced most of the territory’s population and caused widespread destruction.

United States Wants a Cease-fire and Hostage Release

The United States has thrown its weight behind a phased cease-fire and hostage release outlined by President Joe Biden last week. But Israel says it won’t end the war without destroying Hamas, while the militant group is demanding a lasting cease-fire and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces.

The annual march commemorates “Jerusalem Day,” which marks Israel’s capture of east Jerusalem, including the Old City and its holy sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims, in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel considers all of Jerusalem to be its capital, but its annexation of east Jerusalem is not internationally recognized. The Palestinians, who seek east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state, see the march as a provocation.

Police said they were deploying 3,000 security personnel to ensure calm and were seen arresting several Palestinian men before the march got underway, leading them away with their hands bound behind their backs.

At the insistence of Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the police, the march is following its traditional route, entering the Muslim Quarter of the Old City through Damascus Gate and ending at the Western Wall, the holiest place where Jews can pray.

Palestinian Shopkeepers Closed in Preparation of March

As buses bringing young Jewish men in for the march thronged around the Old City’s centuries-old walls, Palestinian shopkeepers closed down in the Muslim Quarter in preparation.

The police stressed that the march would not enter the sprawling Al-Aqsa mosque compound, the third holiest site in Islam. The hilltop on which it stands is the holiest site for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount because it was the location of the Jewish temples in antiquity.

Perceived encroachments on the site have set off widespread violence on a number of occasions going back decades.

Counterprotests were planned throughout the day. An Israeli group, Tag Meir, sent volunteers through the emptying city streets ahead of the march to distribute flowers to Christian and Muslim residents of the Old City.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Hawaiian Airlines Hit by Cyber Attack

DON'T MISS

US House Committee Subpoenas Harvard Over Tuition Costs

DON'T MISS

Convicted Felon Caught With Guns, Ammunition in Fresno Bust

DON'T MISS

Fresno Advocates Want Respect for Immigrants, Defend Miguel Arias

DON'T MISS

Crypto Industry Moves Into US Housing Market

DON'T MISS

Bill Moyers, Broadcaster and LBJ’s White House Press Secretary, Dies at 91

DON'T MISS

Trump Says a Deal Related to Trade Was Signed With China on Wednesday

DON'T MISS

Clovis Police Searching for At-Risk Missing Man Last Seen in Fresno

DON'T MISS

State Department Approves $30 Million for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation

DON'T MISS

Wonderdog Still Barking: Justin Wilson Thrives With Boston Red Sox

UP NEXT

US House Committee Subpoenas Harvard Over Tuition Costs

UP NEXT

Convicted Felon Caught With Guns, Ammunition in Fresno Bust

UP NEXT

Fresno Advocates Want Respect for Immigrants, Defend Miguel Arias

UP NEXT

Crypto Industry Moves Into US Housing Market

UP NEXT

Bill Moyers, Broadcaster and LBJ’s White House Press Secretary, Dies at 91

UP NEXT

Trump Says a Deal Related to Trade Was Signed With China on Wednesday

UP NEXT

Clovis Police Searching for At-Risk Missing Man Last Seen in Fresno

UP NEXT

State Department Approves $30 Million for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation

UP NEXT

Anna Wintour to Step Down From Vogue Editor-in-Chief Role, Media Reports Say

UP NEXT

Feds Charge Bullard High Teacher With Child Porn, Sexual Exploitation of a Minor

Fresno Advocates Want Respect for Immigrants, Defend Miguel Arias

14 hours ago

Crypto Industry Moves Into US Housing Market

15 hours ago

Bill Moyers, Broadcaster and LBJ’s White House Press Secretary, Dies at 91

16 hours ago

Trump Says a Deal Related to Trade Was Signed With China on Wednesday

16 hours ago

Clovis Police Searching for At-Risk Missing Man Last Seen in Fresno

17 hours ago

State Department Approves $30 Million for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation

17 hours ago

Wonderdog Still Barking: Justin Wilson Thrives With Boston Red Sox

17 hours ago

Anna Wintour to Step Down From Vogue Editor-in-Chief Role, Media Reports Say

18 hours ago

Feds Charge Bullard High Teacher With Child Porn, Sexual Exploitation of a Minor

18 hours ago

New Data Clarifies a Lingering Question on 2024 Turnout

18 hours ago

Hawaiian Airlines Hit by Cyber Attack

WASHINGTON – Hawaiian Airlines said on Thursday that some of its IT systems were disrupted by a hack, adding its flights were operatin...

13 hours ago

Hawaiian Airlines airplanes on the runway at the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. April 28, 2020.
13 hours ago

Hawaiian Airlines Hit by Cyber Attack

A view of Harvard campus on John F. Kennedy Street at Harvard University is pictured in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., December 7, 2023. (Reuters File)
14 hours ago

US House Committee Subpoenas Harvard Over Tuition Costs

A convicted felon was arrested in Fresno County after investigators found a rifle, handgun, and ammunition while serving a search warrant. (Fresno PD)
14 hours ago

Convicted Felon Caught With Guns, Ammunition in Fresno Bust

14 hours ago

Fresno Advocates Want Respect for Immigrants, Defend Miguel Arias

American_Flag_Bitcoin_1280x720
15 hours ago

Crypto Industry Moves Into US Housing Market

Journalist Bill Moyers delivers the keynote speech at the People for the American Way Foundation's Spirit of Liberty dinner in Beverly Hills September 21, 2004. (Reuters File)
16 hours ago

Bill Moyers, Broadcaster and LBJ’s White House Press Secretary, Dies at 91

President Donald Trump speaks during a "One Big Beautiful" event at the White House in Washington, DC., U.S., June 26, 2025. (Reuters/Nathan Howard)
16 hours ago

Trump Says a Deal Related to Trade Was Signed With China on Wednesday

Clovis police are searching for Surinder Pal, 55, an at-risk man last seen in Fresno, after his car was found abandoned. (Clovis PD)
17 hours ago

Clovis Police Searching for At-Risk Missing Man Last Seen in Fresno

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend