“We need revenge,” said one of the protesters, Noam Goldstein, 15, a high school student from a small Israeli settlement near the Palestinian city of Hebron in the West Bank. “They have committed attacks against us, so we must take revenge. “That doesn’t mean we have to kill every last one of them.”
But he added: “I want all this land to be ours.”
After the founding of Israel in 1948, Jerusalem was divided in two: Israel controlled the western neighborhoods of the city, while Jordan controlled the majority-Palestinian East Jerusalem. During the 1967 Middle East war, Israel conquered East Jerusalem and then annexed it, a move not recognized by most countries, which still consider it occupied territory.
Tensions exacerbated by the annual demonstration commemorating the takeover helped spark an 11-day conflict in May 2021 between Israel and the Palestinian armed group Hamas. Hamas fired rockets into Jerusalem as the march was about to begin, setting off rocket warning sirens and sending thousands of people seeking shelter.
On Wednesday, Shilo Tzoref, a 19-year-old student at a religious school, or yeshiva, tried to distance himself from some of the more violent chants. “The central idea is that Jerusalem belongs to us,” he said. “You shouldn’t hit every Arab you see on the street. “It is a holy day that celebrates Jerusalem, it is not about fistfighting with our enemies.”
Earlier on Wednesday, some Israeli Jews had ascended the Noble Sanctuary, a hotly contested holy site known to Muslims as the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex and to Jews as the Temple Mount. Under a long-standing agreement at the sensitive holy site, non-Muslims can visit, but only Muslims can pray.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, Minister of National Security and far-right political leader, also joined the procession. Ben-Gvir, who has long pushed for Jewish worship at the Noble Sanctuary, said Jews had prayed freely on the Temple Mount in accordance with his orders to the police, going against the status quo.
“We are here to tell you that Jerusalem is ours, the Damascus Gate is ours and the Temple Mount is ours,” Ben-Gvir told reporters at the rally.
In response, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office issued a statement saying: “The status quo on the Temple Mount has not changed and will not change.”
Efrat Livni contributed reports.