Ultranationalist Jews recite racist slogans during march into Jerusalem's Old City

Key Points:

• Large crowds of ultranationalist Jews gathered at Jerusalem's Damascus Gate for the annual Jerusalem Day parade, chanting racist slogans and provoking tensions in predominantly Palestinian areas of the Old City.
• The event marks Israel's capture of east Jerusalem in the 1967 war and is often accompanied by violence and clashes between ultranationalists and Palestinian residents, many of whom stayed home or closed shops to avoid confrontation.
• Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir made a provocative visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, raising an Israeli flag and asserting Israeli control over the Temple Mount, heightening tensions in the city.
• Clashes occurred between marchers and Palestinians in the Old City's Christian quarter, with coexistence groups attempting to de-escalate violence by intervening and promoting peaceful actions like a "flower march."
• Jerusalem remains a deeply contested city, central to Israeli and Palestinian identities, with Israel claiming it as its undivided capital, while Palestinians seek east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.