Jerusalem: City of Peace or of Provocation Protest? The Flag March is Coming

Jerusalem was united on June 7, 1967 during the Six Day War. From 1948 until that day, Jerusalem was a divided city with the Old City and other eastern portions under Jordanian control. During this time, half of the Old City’s 58 synagogues were destroyed and Jews were prohibited from visiting the holy sites including the Western Wall.

In 1968, Israel’s government proclaimed a new holiday, Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day), to be celebrated on the 28th of Iyar, the date in the Jewish Calendar when the city became one. This year that day is Monday May 26.

The pennant above celebrates Israel’s 22nd Independence Day in 1970 and on the reverse pays tribute to the Israel Defense Forces for liberating the Old City. Israel’s military leadership during the Six Day War is pictured.

Haim Bar-Lev became the IDF Deputy Chief of Staff immediately before the war. He then served as Chief of Staff from 1968-1971. During the 1973 Yom Kippur War he was recalled by Prime Minister Golda Meir to replace the chief of the Southern Command. This change was critical in reestablishing control of a very critical and chaotic situation.

Moshe Dayan was appointed Minister of Defence four days before the war started and together with Yitzhak Rabin directed operations during the war. His hero status didn’t last. He was pilloried for the lack of Israel’s preparation prior to the Yom Kippur War. Four years later as Foreign Minister in Menachem Begin’s government, he was one of the chief architects of the Camp David Accords that resulted in peace with Egypt.

Yitzhak Rabin was Chief of Staff during the War, and subsequently served a number of terms as Prime Minister. He too was involved in initiatives designed to allow Israel to live in peace, signing in 1992 agreements with Palestinian leadership as part of the Oslo Accords and in 1994 a peace treaty with Jordan. He was assassinated in 1995.

Jerusalem means City of Peace. Ironically, Jerusalem Day is annually celebrated with a flag march, a portion of which runs through the Old City. Naturally, to some it is controversial with the threat of violence ever looming. 

As The Times of Israel reported on May 20, 2025 (“Police readying for tensions ahead of annual Jerusalem Day Flag March on Monday”):

“Extremist Jewish youth attending the Flag March have been known to harass and beat Palestinians during the procession, especially as it enters the Old City through Damascus Gate.

Last year’s march saw several attacks on Palestinians and journalists by marchers, who chanted anti-Arab refrains and plastered stickers on shuttered shops supporting the ideology of the late ultranationalist Rabbi Meir Kahane and calling for the expulsion of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. Officers arrested 18 suspects for violent offenses over the course of the day.”

Is the Jeursalem Day Flag March a celebration, a statement or a provocation? Would the war-hero/peacemakers who united Jerusalem approve of this? Does it help Jerusalem live up to the meaning of its name as a City of Peace, or does it make that harder?  

What do you think?

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For more treasures from the Herzl and Zionism Collection of David Matlow which appear in the Treasure Trove column weekly in the Canadian Jewish News see https://herzlcollection.com/treasure-trove