Leaders of the Arab population in Israel are calling upon masses of Arabs to show up in Umm El-Fahm Tuesday in order to block the planned march by 100 Jews in the northern Israeli city. The marchers will hold Israeli national flags.
MK Michael Ben-Ari (National Union) announced Sunday that he will join the flag march, which will also be led by Land of Israel activists Baruch Marzel and Itamar Ben-Gvir. Over the past decade, Ben-Gvir and Marzel, both of whom are now aides to MK Ben-Ari, have repeatedly requested the police for permission to hold a march in Umm El-Fahm, usually around election time. Police have routinely denied the requests. This year, a request to hold the march before the elections was denied but in accordance with a court ruling, a date was set for after the elections.
MK Ben-Ari informed the Chief Knesset Officer of his intention to join the march and said that he “is sure that the Israel Police can fortify the rule of law and arrest the rabble rousers and inciters as it has in other cases.” The police, he said, “know whom to block in order to prevent a riot.” The Knesset Guard will now have to participate in providing security for Ben Ari Tuesday.
Ben-Ari noted: “We are just going to march with Israeli flags, not enemy flags. This is the country where the residents of Umm El-Fahm live, and it gives them stipends and a budget for their municipality.”
Ben-Ari’s mentor, the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, led a march into Umm El-Fahm in 1984. The marchers managed to make a small advance into the town but encountered a mass of rock-throwing Arabs and eventually had to retreat.
Ben-Gvir unhappy with route
When the route of the proposed march was discussed in court, the police asked for it to pass on the outskirts of the Arab city, but the court accepted the organizers’ requests and insisted that it pass inside the city. Police have worked out a route for Tuesday’s march with Ben-Gvir and Marzel, but Ben-Gvir said that although the organizers have agreed to the route proposed by police, he is not happy with it and thinks that it “bodes ill.” The number of participants in the march was limited by the court to 100.
Amir Mahoul, head of the Subcommittee for Liberties in the Higher Monitoring Committee of Israeli Arabs, published an announcement Sunday in which he called upon the public to show up in the greatest possible numbers in order to physically block entry by the marchers. He also asked that human rights activists and Arab lawyers show up to document the events.
Mahoul said the Israel police “is not a neutral side and is not trying to maintain public order. It is a mechanism for depriving our public of the right to organize and oppose the aggression against it.”
MK Hana Sweid said the planned visit to Umm El-Fahm was “an act of pure provocation” and warned that it could turn into a confrontation.
NU members toured the Wadi Ara area, including a stop outside Umm El Fahm, days before the last election. On election day itself, the NU's MK Aryeh Eldad supervised a ballot booth in the city for one hour.