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What are Jerusalem Day festivities really celebrating?

While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu takes pride in his "united Jerusalem," the truth is that the city is more divided than ever as Jerusalem Day celebrants ignore the severe discrimination against the city's Arab population.
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In his annual speech to mark Jerusalem Day, delivered at the city’s Mercaz Harav yeshiva on June 5, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu aptly described the excitement and spiritual high Israelis felt on that day in 1967 upon touching the stones of the Western Wall and seeing the Israeli flag flying over the Temple Mount. “We sensed a great connection to generations of Jews linked to the city. … We stood there tearful, excited and committed to protecting Jerusalem, the Temple Mount and the Western Wall,” he said. In the first years, we used to celebrate Jerusalem Day in the streets. No longer. From “the city of peace,” to quote Netanyahu, Jerusalem is turning into the capital of racism. The so-called united city is a record holder in discrimination and division.

Few venues symbolize this as well as the one Netanyahu chooses to deliver his “unification” speeches. It’s hard to find a climate less tolerant of the other, including toward Jews who believe that all people are equal and that Palestinians, too, deserve to lead a dignified life. On Sunday, Netanyahu sat next to Rabbi Dov Lior, who has called for the "cleansing" of Arab citizens from Israel. His remarks won applause from the celebrating yeshiva students. The appropriation of Jerusalem and of its festive day by these circles excludes peace- and equality-loving Israelis. In addition, the 73,000 children who attend ultra-Orthodox kindergartens and schools in the city (75% of the city’s Jewish schoolchildren) do not identify with this “Zionist festival.”

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