 Hi guys, welcome back to my YouTube channel. This is Daniel Rosal here in Jerusalem So a few days ago I uploaded a video to this YouTube channel showing myself attending the flag march here in Jerusalem The controversial flag march that was held on Jerusalem day as it usually is But they decided to hold another one because of the fact that on the first iteration of the flag march this year Was interrupted by rockets from Hamas firing rockets onto Jerusalem that ended up actually kicking off Literally an entire war. Now. It wasn't just the firing of those rockets. There was a bit more to it than that But that was kind of the camel Straw that broke the camel's back so to speak now This particular flag march was very controversial because of the fact that the security situation is volatile Also because of the fact that the Bennett government had just been sworn into power the day previously So it was literally their first test now when I posted the video of myself going to the flag march I did so because mostly because I was interested in seeing it and recording it my thoughts about the flag march I wrote a Facebook post at just to my own Facebook friends today before and I never really shared that So I wanted to just give you my opinion about the flag march because it's definitely very conflicted. I'm not 100% behind it Why I say that is because When we talk about the reunification of Jerusalem and from my understanding of the purpose of the flag march It's basically because it's to celebrate the fact that we Jews have access to the old city and the Jewish religious sites in the old city and in East Jerusalem and the whole of Jerusalem is what has was brought under Israeli sovereignty in 1967 the law that affirmed affirmed that particular annexation or conquest was actually only officially Officially legislated in Israel in 1980, but it was in 1967 when East Jerusalem came under Israeli sovereignty So the reason I say that my feelings about whether we should march and whether we should celebrate and de-Jerusalem day on the one hand as a Jew I Celebrate the fact that we have access to the Western Wall Which when the east of Jerusalem was not under Jordan was under Jordanian control Jews were now permitted to access their holy sites and The hard bite is the holy site in Jerusalem not the Western Wall common common mistake To call the Western Wall the holy site It's it's hard bite and specifically a part of that topic for another day But when people celebrate the reunification of Jerusalem, I never really understand what they mean now I've been living in Jerusalem for seven years. So yes, I understand what they mean Jerusalem used to have a border running through it half of the city was under Jordanian control Half of the city was under Israeli control. There was a physical demarcation to the border running through the city. It wasn't a soft border. It was a hard border and There was a couple of gates Mandelbaum gate through which, you know, UN people could pass kind of the same situation We have now with Lebanon in which the border is not a border people cross ordinary people can cross only a Specific people can get across it. So that was the situation and Jews were not able to access their the holiest site in their religion so To the extent that we're celebrating Jewish access to those sites I celebrate Jerusalem day and You know to have a little parade, I guess it's nice. I don't really exactly see Specifically the point what I don't see the point about is why this parade tends to go through Damascus gate And the Muslim quarter it strikes me as simply an attempt to antagonize The Muslim residents or a show of force and I find that quite ugly that idea I don't think that we need to parade around with flags in order to tell the Arab population that You know Israel is sovereign and we are in control. I don't think that's necessary and I think I Understand on the one hand the idea of not wanting to You know be forced into concessions on the other hand under I think that you have to be tactful and there's something to be said for not needlessly antagonizing people for no good reason and That's kind of what I felt about this iteration of the Jerusalem march was given the fact that the previous one kicked off a war Hamas a threatened to launch another war in response to this attack. I didn't feel like the I didn't feel like the time justified the The holding of this event Let's just say the second reason that I'm conflicted about the flag march is because I never so when I say I don't understand When we're talking about Jerusalem being unified. I don't see a unified Jerusalem The situation we have on the ground here in Jerusalem is that East Jerusalemites? Palestinians regard themselves as under Israeli occupation. They reject the Israeli sovereignty now I was literally just planning a YouTube video I want to take a look at Abu Tor and when I was going into street view to check out which streets would be maybe safe to go to Which I should probably avoid It didn't take very long before I started seeing Palestinian flags and anti-Israel graffiti in the Arab parts of Jerusalem Now the current situation we have is that East Jerusalem is not safe for Jews to go to including me. It's not safe Certain parts might be safe depending on the day But by and large, it's not a good idea if you go into Isawiyah or Silwan Wearing traditional Jewish headwear or it's in some way visibly identifying as Jewish There's a very good chance. You're going to be attacked now The asymmetry here is that Jews East Jerusalemites can come into Jerusalem and generally don't face Harassment now as yes, there have been isolated incidents that I absolutely condemn of Random Arabs being attacked nevertheless as a general principle You will see people wearing hijabs doing their shopping and he's true in West Jerusalem. And if someone like me Were to go into Isawiyah now wearing a skull cap Kippa and wearing a big t-shirt with them again David honest There's a very high likelihood within a few minutes people would start throwing rocks at me So when you talk about Jerusalem being unified I don't really understand what we're talking about because it just strikes me as Delusional to think that this is a united city. There is no meaningful coexistence I made this point many times between East and West Jerusalem if there was I'm pretty sure I would be seeing it I don't deny that there are coexistent projects people working towards coexistence But on a day-to-day basis to Arabs and Jews Jewish society East and West Jerusalem. Do they interact? Do they socialize together? Are they friends? No, they're separate worlds separate bus networks separate separate hospital networks dear their water and oil they don't mix and When so when we talk about the city being unified, that's the aspect of it that I Say well, what exactly are we celebrating? We're celebrating the fact that we Forced control over half of the city that doesn't want us that doesn't regard us as legitimate that regards us as Illegal occupiers and that literally when we come to provide municipal services the Jerusalem Municipality will attack the municipality. That's how much they don't want to be part of Israel You go into East Jerusalem. You see Arabic you you you see Palestinian nationalism. You see the Palestinian flag It's obvious. They don't want to be part of Israel They don't want us the one we're saying that we're the city is unified I don't understand that we're talking about a city where it's not safe for Jews East Jerusalem is not free of Jews But the Jews who do live in East Jerusalem in places like Hares a team and the other enclaves in East Jerusalem have to have massive police protection and literally live in fortified Compounds and if they don't do that, they'll be attacked. So what is the unification there? So those are my queries about the flag march. So on the one hand I when I say feel conflicted about it This is the reason on the one hand I Celebrate the fact that we've access to the Western Wall But something that I think a glaring hypocrisy including maybe on my part is you know Look at a map the old city of Jerusalem is over the green line. So if you support Jewish access to the Western Wall to hire a bite, but you say the annexation of East Jerusalem is repugnant. Well, that's a hypocrisy because The old cities in East Jerusalem the old cities over the green line the old city is part of the territory that the International community regards as having been illegally annexed. So you can't say that you're in support of one and Against the other they go hand in hand So I feel like the flag march and Jerusalem day in general. I support our access to The Western Wall that we've regained access. I do think it's vital despite whatever the international community says at the same time I don't think the situation we have now in which Jerusalem is forcibly Unified and it's de facto not safe is necessarily something that is worth celebrating and Finally, I in light of that fact. I don't believe I Think that there has to be a balance struck between Finding some way to celebrate that for those who do celebrate it and avoiding unnecessarily antagonizing and Intimidating people who have a totally different viewpoint and regard themselves as occupied. I don't think that's the Jewish way I don't think that's a good way and I don't support that. So I know this might seem a little strange given that I was at the March But that's that's basically my my the totality of my feelings about it Thanks for watching. I'd like to get more videos for me. Feel free to subscribe to this YouTube channel