Two articles on the escalating anti-Arab hate in Jerusalem: Far-right Jewish marchers call for Palestinian villages to ‘burn’ as they storm through Muslim quarter of Old City; Israeli political leader incites takeover of holy site
By Julian Borger and Quique Kierszenbaum, reposted from The Guardian, May 14, 2026
Israeli nationalists chanted “death to the Arabs”, “may your villages burn” and “Gaza is a graveyard” in a state-sponsored march through Jerusalem to mark the anniversary of the city’s capture and annexation.
The annual assertion of Jewish control over Palestinian East Jerusalem has grown more extreme in recent years, and Thursday’s event culminated with the national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, unfurling an Israeli flag in front of the al-Aqsa mosque, the holiest Islamic site in the city.
Most Palestinians in the Muslim quarter of the Old City had shuttered their shops and gone home before the march began, but members of far-right radical Jewish groups who had entered scuffled with Palestinian residents still there, with both sides throwing chairs at each other, until separated by police who entered the city that afternoon in force.
“I’ve come to show all the world that this is our city. This is the Holy Land. God gave us this country and this city,” a 19-year-old marcher, Ariel Amichai, said.
Asked what the intended message of the march was to Palestinians in Jerusalem, he replied: “That they must leave. This is our country. And they can’t just be here and try to stab us or kill us.”
Amichai, who is from Modi’in, 43km from Jerusalem, said he believed that Jerusalem Day, marking the capture of the east side of the city in 1967, was the only day when Jews could enter the Muslim quarter through the Damascus Gate, though Israeli Jews and Palestinians use the gate on a daily basis.
Marchers were bused in from around Israel and from settlements in the occupied West Bank in a vast operation funded by the Jerusalem municipality and government ministries. The finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, also took part in Thursday’s march.
Once Palestinians had left the Old City, much of the tension was between government-backed marchers and members of a Jewish group, Standing Together, which had come to protect Palestinian residents from political violence.
Suf Patishi, a Standing Together organizer, said a record 400 volunteers had turned up in hi-vis vests in the organisation’s trademark purple, on a day fraught with risks.
“We wanted to really cover each and every corner of the city to make sure that we prevent attacks against Palestinians,” Patishi said. “Yes, it is dangerous to us, but nothing like the danger to the Palestinians that are living here.”
There were a few religious Jews among the protective cordon of counter-protesters. An ultra-orthodox man with a long grey beard and gold coat said he had come from northern Israel and gave his name only as David.
“I’ve become appalled by the violent behavior of people in my community,” David said. “I’m a man of faith, religious, and they’re doing this in our name, and I felt I should do something to contrast that. This is a desecration of God’s name, so the only way to remedy that is to do the opposite, a Kiddush Hashem, a sanctification of God’s name.”
On the al-Aqsa compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, Ben-Gvir danced with supporters singing “the Temple Mount is in our hands”, as he unfurled an Israeli flag. The national security minister has led a campaign to erode the 59-year status quo, dating back to the Israeli capture of East Jerusalem and the West Bank, under which non-Muslims are forbidden from praying in the sacred area.
On Thursday evening, Ben-Gvir wrote on his Telegram social media account: “59 years after the liberation of Jerusalem, I raised the Israeli flag on the Temple Mount and we can proudly say: We have returned governance to the Temple Mount.”
Israeli MP calls for Al-Aqsa’s destruction to build Jewish temple during mass raid.
By Lubna Masarwa, reposted from Middle East Eye, May 14, 2026
Israeli ministers and MPs led mass incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque on Thursday, as one lawmaker declared it was time to demolish the site and build a Jewish temple in its place.
The raids came as Israeli forces violently blocked Palestinian worshippers from accessing the Jerusalem holy site while facilitating large-scale settler raids ahead of the annual “Flag March” through the Old City.
The Old City, in occupied East Jerusalem, was placed under near-total lockdown to accommodate the marches and incursions, with Palestinian-owned shops forced to shut and residents ordered indoors.
“Security barriers and restrictions are tighter than ever before,” an employee of the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, which administers Al-Aqsa Mosque, told Middle East Eye on condition of anonymity.
Since dawn prayers, Israeli authorities have imposed strict measures at the gates of Al-Aqsa Mosque, one of Islam’s holiest sites.
Israeli forces searched worshippers attempting to reach the site, confiscated ID cards, and barred men under 60 and women under 50 from entering.
Local sources told MEE that worshippers were assaulted, shoved and beaten at several mosque gates.
Shortly after dawn prayers ended, the mosque was largely emptied of Palestinians, except for a small number of Waqf staff.
Large groups of ultranationalist Israelis then raided the site under heavy police protection.
At least 800 Israelis entered the site during the morning, with further groups expected later in the day.
During the incursions, participants performed religious rituals and prayers and raised Israeli flags inside the mosque compound, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and other lawmakers.
“We restored governance on the Temple Mount thanks to determination and deterrence,” Ben Gvir said. “The Temple Mount is in our hands.”
Yitzhak Kroizer, am MP from the same party, stood alongside Ben Gvir as they danced and sang next to the Dome of the Rock.
“The time has come to get rid of all the mosques and work to construct the Temple!” Kroizer later wrote on Facebook.
Yitzhak Wasserlauf, another minister, said “Jews no longer walk around the Temple Mount like thieves and no longer need to hide” during the raid.
Among those taking part in the raids was Ariel Kallner, a lawmaker from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.
Al-Aqsa Mosque is one of Islam’s holiest sites and sits on a plateau that Israelis refer to as the Temple Mount, which, in Jewish tradition, is believed to have been the site of the First and Second Temples.
A centuries-old status quo, recognized internationally, designates Al-Aqsa as an exclusively Muslim place of worship under the administration of the Islamic Waqf, which has authority over access, prayer and maintenance.
Israel has increasingly eroded the arrangement by allowing near-daily settler incursions and public Jewish prayers at the site, while sidelining the Waqf’s authority and heavily restricting Muslim access to the mosque.
Friday raids
The large-scale raids come as Israel marks “Jerusalem Day”, which commemorates the occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967 and its subsequent “unification” with West Jerusalem, seized by Zionist militia during the 1948 Nakba.
Alongside the incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalem Day celebrations include the controversial “Flag March”, which passes through the Old City, including Palestinian-majority neighborhoods.
The march has frequently been marked by racist and Islamophobic chants, assaults on Palestinian residents, and attacks on Palestinian property.
This year’s Jerusalem Day events begin at sunset on Thursday and end at nightfall on Friday, coinciding with Nakba Day, which commemorates the ethnic cleansing of more than 750,000 Palestinians by Zionist militia during the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.
The overlap also falls on a Friday, when Israeli incursions into Al-Aqsa are typically suspended because of Muslim Friday prayers.
However, several ministers and MPs from Israel’s governing coalition have appealed to the police commissioner to allow Israeli groups to enter the mosque’s yards on Friday.
“It is unacceptable that on the day marking the liberation of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, Jews will be completely denied access to the holiest site for the Jewish people,” they wrote in a letter signed by senior ministers, including Justice Minister Yariv Levin, Defense Minister Israel Katz and Energy Minister Eli Cohen.
A Jerusalem resident, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there were genuine fears the raids would proceed on Friday, further entrenching Israeli control over the site.
Ir Amim, an Israeli rights group focused on Jerusalem, condemned what it described as growing official backing for the Temple movement among organizers and participants in the Flag March.
The Temple movement includes groups organizing daily incursions into Al-Aqsa, which also call openly for the destruction of the mosque and the construction of a Third Temple in its place.
“Against the backdrop of the sweeping government support they now enjoy, Temple activists may in the coming days attempt to forcibly enter the complex, damage Muslim holy sites, or carry out attacks against Palestinians in and around the area,” Ir Amim warned on Wednesday.
“When the police – who are meant to uphold public order – openly declare their support for the Temple movement, there is little left to restrain those groups from acting in such a manner.”
Julian Borger is the Guardian’s senior international correspondent based in London. He was previously a correspondent in the US, the Middle East, eastern Europe and the Balkans.
Quique Kierszenbaum is a Jerusalem based reporter and photographer who has been covering Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories since the Second Intifada.
Lubna Masarwa is a journalist and Middle East Eye’s Palestine and Israel bureau chief, based in Jerusalem.
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