The Israeli government on May 29 announced the establishment of 22 new settlements in the illegally occupied [8] West Bank—including the recognition and expansion of several already existing "wildcat" outposts, built without government permission. Defense Minister Israel Katz said that building the settlements was "a strategic move that prevents the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger Israel." The announcement comes amid expanding Israeli military operations [9] and settler violence on the West Bank, and open calls [10] from Israeli officials—including cabinet members such as Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich [11]—to annex [12] the territory. (TNH [14], ToI [15], Reuters [10])
Three days before the announcement, right-wing Israelis marched through Jerusalem's Old City, chanting "Death to Arabs," "Your home will be ours," and "May your village burn"—with some assaulting Palestinian residents. Crowds of Israeli ultra-nationalists were bussed in for the "Jerusalem Day [16]" march, which commemorates the occupation and annexation of East Jerusalem after the 1967 war. One group of marchers stormed an UNRWA [17] compound—including Yulia Malinovsky, one of the Knesset members behind a law banning the agency's activities from areas under Israeli jurisdiction.
Another group, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir [18], pushed into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, where one Knesset member, Yitzhak Kroizer [19], was seen praying—in defiance of protocols [20] of Israel's agreement with the Islamic trust that controls the compound
Opposition leader Yair Lapid [21] said the annual Jerusalem Day event has become a festival of "hatred and racism," adding it was "a disgrace and an insult to Judaism." (Al Jazeera [22], France24 [23], BBC News [24], AP [25])
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu marked the day with a cabinet meeting in the City of David [26] archeological site, where he pledged: "We will keep Jerusalem united, whole, and under Israeli sovereignty. Jerusalem, our eternal capital, was reunited 58 years ago in the Six-Day War. It will never be divided again... There is no Zionism without Zion, and no Israel without Jerusalem." (JNS [27], MEE [28])
