Dance of Flags (Hebrew: ריקוד דגלים or ריקודגלים, ‘’Rikud Degalim’’), or ‘’’Flag March’’’ ( ‘’Mitzad ha’Degalim’’), is an annual flag flying parade on Jerusalem Day (28 Iyar, Hebrew calendar) in Jerusalem and on a smaller scale every Rosh Chodesh (better known as ‘’Sivuv She’arim’’), to celebrate Israel's victory in the battle of Jerusalem during the Six-Day War. While some Israelis consider this day an important date to display Jewish sovereignty over Jerusalem, many Palestinians consider it "an offensive and unnecessary expression of dominance in an area" and part of Israel annexation of East Jerusalem.
The Dance of Flags is recognized almost exclusively with the Religious Zionism party. Attendees and speakers in recent years include Itamar Ben-Gvir, Minister of National Security and leader of the far-right political party Otzma Yehudit, Bezalel Smotrich, Minister of Finance and leader of the far-right Religious Zionist Party, Yitzhak Wasserlauf, member of the Knesset for Otzma Yehudit and Minister for the Development of the Periphery, the Negev and the Galilee, and Simcha Rothman, member of the Knesset for the Religious Zionist Party and Chairman of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, who led the efforts to overhaul Israel's judiciary that sparked the 2023 Israeli judicial reform protests.
The event, which passes through the city’s Muslim Quarter, is regularly attended by far-right Jewish Israelis, including the far-right Lehava organisation, and is often accompanied by violence, especially against the Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem. Attendees regularly chant racist and anti-Arab songs such as "death to Arabs," "A Jew is a soul, an Arab is the son of a whore," and "may your villages burn." Palestinian residents frequently shutter their businesses and homes on the day of the march for fear of being subjected to violence from Israeli marchers or after being ordered to do so by the Israel Police, who also institute closures and checkpoints in and around the Old City.
The event was a contributing factor in the build-up to the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis after clashes outside the Al-Aqsa Mosque left over 300 Palestinians wounded.
History
The parade began in 1968 with Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook and his followers in Mercaz HaRav Yeshiva to march to the Western Wall through Jaffa Road, singing and dancing, at night after the end of the holiday rally at the Yeshiva Hall. In 1974, Yehuda Hazani, a yeshiva student, initiated the bringing of an orchestra and the joining of high school yeshivot to the event. It was later decided to move the event to daytime to allow more people to take part in the march. Today, the march is organized by the "Am Kalavi" (עם כלביא) association. Until his death in December 2022, the procession was headed by Rabbi Haim Drukman. The event is funded by the association, the Jerusalem Municipality, the Ministry of Education and the Society for the Rehabilitation and Development of the Jewish Quarter. In 2018, the event cost about NIS 1 million.
During the parade, Israeli flag-bearers march through the city streets, accompanied by mobile orchestras on trucks playing Hassidic songs. At several points along the way, stationary stages are set up on which performances by artists take place. Although in the first years of the parade various sectors of the Israeli society took part in it, today, most of the participants in the march and celebrations are members of Religious Zionism who journey to the city from all over Israel.
In most years, the parade began in the area of center of Jerusalem, from Independence Park or Sacher Park, then ascended east toward Jaffa Road, through Safra Square, to IDF Square. Mass dancing in collaboration with singers and public figures. In recent years there has been a separation and women march in front of men or vice versa. In the past, marchers used to enter the Old City through the Lions' Gate as well, but in the years 2010-2016, the police banned entry from this gate. In 2011, the police diverted the march route eastwards, and it passed from Sheikh Jarrah along the Municipal Road No. 1 (Bar Lev Boulevard), and as before, entered the Old City through some of its gates. In 2015, the Israeli High Court rejected a petition by a coalition of NGOs to change the route of the march so that it does not pass through the Muslim Quarter, though warned that participants engaging in nationalistic violence or shouting anti-Arab slogans could face criminal charges. In 2017, in honor of the 50th anniversary of what Israelis consider the Reunification of Jerusalem, it was decided that the flag dance would also surround the Old City from the east and enter through the Dung Gate.