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Photos: Israeli ultranationalists march through East Jerusalem, stirring animosity

Jewish ultranationalists waving Israeli flag
Israeli Knesset member Bezalel Smotrich, center, waves an Israeli flag together with other Jewish ultranationalists during the “March of Flags” Tuesday outside Jerusalem’s Old City.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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On Tuesday, hundreds of Israeli ultranationalists, some chanting “Death to Arabs,” paraded in East Jerusalem in a show of force that threatened to spark renewed violence. Palestinians in Gaza responded by launching incendiary balloons that caused at least 10 fires in southern Israel.

The march posed a test for Israel’s fragile new government as well as the tenuous truce that ended last month’s 11-day war between Israel and Hamas.

Palestinians consider the march, meant to celebrate Israel’s capture of East Jerusalem in 1967, to be a provocation. Hamas called on Palestinians to “resist” the parade, a version of which helped ignite last month’s war.

With music blaring, hundreds of Jewish ultranationalists gathered in front of the Damascus Gate, which leads into Jerusalem’s Old City. Most appeared to be young men, and many held blue-and-white Israeli flags as they danced and sang religious songs.

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A man lifts his arms in the air amid a crowd waving Israeli flags.
An Orthodox Jewish man prays in front of Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate during a march celebrating the anniversary of Israel’s 1967 capture of East Jerusalem.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
A man with hands folded in prayer stands in front of a line of men bending forward at the waist.
Palestinians perform a prayer in front of Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate after the end of a far-right Israeli march.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
A young man with braces and wearing a "Rock Diary" T-shirt yells amid other young men waving Israeli flags.
Jewish ultranationalists rally outside Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
A young woman in military uniform nudges a seated woman in a hajib, who holds up both hands.
Israeli security officers remove Palestinians returning to congregate in front of Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
A woman with a microphone is surrounded by young men as she gestures to show she's in the middle of something.
Ultranationalist Israeli youth surround and heckle journalist Nawal Hijazi during her news broadcast near Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
A woman in uniform stands alongside a distressed child holding a water bottle.
A distressed Palestinian child was detained by Israeli security forces as they tried to break up Palestinian crowds at the Damascus Gate.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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A line of young men wearing yarmulkes stand with their arms around one another.
Tuesday’s march took a controversial route through the Old City.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
A man gestures as he stands between two men in military gear, one holding a cudgel.
A Palestinian man questions Israeli security forces after they pushed him as they tried to create a perimeter for the ultranationalists’ rally.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Seen from the back, a line of men behind at the waist in front of a stone gateway.
Palestinians pray in front of Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate after the end of a Jewish ultranationalist march.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

More visual journalism from the Los Angeles Times.

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