The Israel Police on Monday pulled the permit given to the annual flag parade in Jerusalem, set to take place on Thursday, June 10, citing safety concerns and saying that they will not approve the current path suggested for the march.
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While the police stressed that they would revisit the issue if the route was changed, the organizers of the controversial annual march, which would have seen hundreds if not thousands of people march through the Muslim Quarter carrying Israeli flags, told the media the police had, in fact, canceled it.
Right-wing lawmakers and national religious groups said they would appeal the decision before the High Court of Justice.
Last week, Hamas, the terrorist group controlling the Gaza Strip, called on the Palestinian residents of Jerusalem to riot if the march was allowed to go through the Old City, and vowed to "protect the al-Aqsa Mosque from the malice of the Zionists and their schemes."
Religious Zionist Party leader Bezalel Smotrich excoriated the police over the decision, calling it a "shameful capitulation to terrorism and Hamas threats."
Police Commissioner Yaakov Shabtai, he said, "is unable to protect marchers with Israeli flags on the streets of Jerusalem and unable to protect Jewish residents of Lod, Ramla and Acre. Now he is also making [Hamas leader in Gaza] Yahya Sinwar the one who runs Jerusalem.
"The people of Israel are alive and worthy of a different leadership that is stronger and more determined. We will continue to walk proudly through the streets of Jerusalem and reside everywhere in it."
Itamar Ben-Gvir, head of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, also slammed the decision, tweeting, "Unfortunately, the police chief continued to capitulate to terrorism.
"I, for one, don't plan to give up: on Thursday I will march across the full route [of the parade] in Jerusalem. I call on other MKs to join me and realize our [parliamentary] immunity and Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem."
Right-wing advocacy group Im Tirtzu's CEO Matan Peleg issued a statement saying, "We are saddened by the police's decision to not allow a march with Israeli flags in Israel's capital city. This is a severe mistake by the police that harms democracy and surrenders to terrorism.
"The State of Israel needs to stop the dangerous decline that it is experiencing on all fronts. The IDF is restricting navigation exercises in the Negev out of fear; in Jaffa soldiers can't walk in public with their uniforms; residents of mixed Jewish-Arab cities are being called settlers and are being targeted; and in the capital of Israel, terrorist groups are dictating whether or not people can march with Israeli flags. If we don't wake up, there won't be a state left for our children."
Yehoda Vald, one of the organizers of the flag march, said, "The police informed us that the march was canceled. Apparently, the only one left deterred by Operation Guardian of the Walls is Israel, which yields to the threats made by terrorists rather than allow a march of Israeli flags in the Israeli capital."
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