Updates From Israel: Police Brace For All Possibilities At Jerusalem Flag Day March - Hamas Issues Threats

Police brace for all possibilities at Jerusalem Flag March as Hamas issues threats

The Times of Israel is liveblogging Tuesday’s events as they unfold.

Police brace for all possibilities at Jerusalem march, don’t see rocket fire as likely

The Jerusalem Police are in the throes of intensive preparations for securing the Jerusalem Day Flag March this Thursday, including exercises in case of rocket fire from Gaza, although such an attack is not thought to be likely.

More than 2,000 police officers will secure the controversial march, along with more than a thousand other security personnel, the police announce.

The parade organized by right-wing and religious organizations will as usual begin in Jerusalem’s city center, enter the Old City of Jerusalem from the Damascus Gate in the Muslim Quarter, and proceed toward the Jewish Quarter ending up in the Western Wall plaza.

Central streets in the city will be shut down during the parade Thursday afternoon, and public transportation will be redirected to alternative routes.

Jerusalem District Police Commander Doron Turgeman makes clear that the procession will not visit the Temple Mount and that Israeli flags would not be allowed at the sensitive site.

In response to a question about possible rocket fire on Jerusalem from Gaza during the Jerusalem Day events, Turgeman says the police prepare for every eventuality including rocket fire.

The police later clarified, however, that rocket fire was not considered to be a central threat at present.

Jerusalem Day’s Flag March sparks tensions annually and is usually preceded by calls to change its route. The timing this year is especially delicate in light of the fresh ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group after five days of deadly conflict.

In 2021, the Jerusalem march served as a pretext for the Hamas terror group to launch an 11-day conflict, which included rocket fire on Jerusalem during the march.

Hamas warns Israel, calls for mass prayers at Al Aqsa on day of Jerusalem Flag March

The Hamas terror group is calling on Palestinians to attend morning prayers at the Al Aqsa Mosque on Thursday and warning Israel not to “cross any red lines.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed yesterday that the controversial nationalist parade will take place in Jerusalem on its annual route through the Old City’s Muslim Quarter.

“Any violation of our red lines will mean that the resistance will have a say,” says the terror group’s representative in Lebanon, Ali Baraka.

Baraka calls for the masses to attend morning prayers in a show of strength and says the march is a “provocation to the Palestinian people and a violation of the sanctity of Al Aqsa.”

The march does not go to the Al Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount.

Jerusalem Day’s Flag March sparks tensions annually and is usually preceded by calls to change its route. The timing this year is especially delicate in light of the fresh ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group after five days of deadly conflict.

In 2021, the Jerusalem march served as a pretext for the Hamas terror group to launch an 11-day conflict, which included rocket fire on Jerusalem during the march.

Elon Musk says George Soros ‘hates humanity’

Elon Musk tweets that George Soros “hates humanity,” and writes that the billionaire and progressive megadonor “reminds me of Magneto,” a comic book villain who features in Marvel’s X-Men series.

The attacks on Soros come as Twitter has faced criticism over its lax hate speech policies in the months since Musk, one of the world’s richest people, bought the platform last year. Soros, the billionaire and progressive megadonor, is at the center of multiple antisemitic conspiracy theories.

Like Soros, the character of Magneto is a Holocaust survivor. Brian Krassenstein, a liberal Jewish journalist, noted that parallel in a reply to Musk’s tweet, writing, “Magneto’s experiences during the Holocaust as a survivor shaped his perspective as well as his depth and empathy,” and that Soros “gets attacked nonstop for his good intentions which some Americans think are bad merely because they disagree with [his] political affiliations.”

Musk responded, “You assume they are good intentions. They are not. He wants to erode the very fabric of civilization. Soros hates humanity.”

While Musk has railed against progressive policies, what prompted his attack on Soros isn’t clear. On the same day as the tweets, however, Soros’s family investment office cashed out its investment in Tesla, Musk’s electric car company.