Dance of Flags
Dance of Flags (Hebrew: ריקוד דגלים or ריקודגלים, ‘’Rikud Degalim’’), or ‘’’Flag March’’’ (Hebrew: מצעד הדגלים ‘’Mitzad ha’Degalim’’), is an annual flag flying parade on Jerusalem Day to celebrate what some Israelis term the "reunification of Jerusalem", but more widely-recognised as the military occupation and annexation of East Jerusalem of the West Bank after the 1967 Arab–Israeli War.
| Dance of Flags ריקוד דגלים | |
|---|---|
Mamilla neighborhood of Jerusalem, 2018 | |
| Status | Occurring |
| Genre | Flag flying parade |
| Date(s) | 28 Iyar |
| Frequency | Annually |
| Location(s) | Old City of Jerusalem, East Jerusalem, Israeli-occupied West Bank |
| Years active | 55 |
| Inaugurated | 26 May 1968 |
| Most recent | 18 May 2023 |
| Previous event | 29 May 2022 |
| Attendance | 50,000 |
| Activity | Marching, waving the flag of Israel, racist chants |
The event, which passes through the city’s Muslim Quarter, is regularly attended by far-right Jewish Israelis, including the far-right Lehava organisation, and is often accompanied by violence, especially against the Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem. Attendees regularly chant racist and anti-Arab songs such as "death to Arabs," "A Jew is a soul, an Arab is the son of a whore," and "may your villages burn." Palestinian residents frequently shutter their businesses and homes on the day of the march for fear of being subjected to violence from Israeli marchers or after being ordered to do so by the Israel Police, who also institute closures and checkpoints in and around the Old City.
The Dance of Flags is recognized almost exclusively with the Religious Zionism party, which had led the efforts to overhaul Israel's judiciary that sparked the 2023 Israeli judicial reform protests.
While Israelis consider the day a display of Jewish sovereignty over the whole of Jerusalem, Palestinians consider it an unnecessary provocation and expression of dominance in East Jerusalem, an area that is considered part of the occupied Palestinian territories.