Every year since 1968, Israelis have participated in the “Dance of Flags” march to celebrate Jerusalem’s reunification, recognizing that the city is the undivided and eternal capital of the Jewish people.
Israel, like Canada, welcomes freedom of speech and assembly. This year, the march was postponed to today after Hamas launched rockets at Israel cancelling the march’s festivities on May 10.
Like all democracies, Israel sought to respect freedom of expression and civil liberties, all the while trying to reduce friction and safeguard its citizenry and Arab non-residents alike, by adjusting the route of the march.
My bit: #Israel ultra-nationalists’ march through #Jerusalem tests new government and provokes Hamas /via @globeandmail https://t.co/ZjkAlf7cdx
— Eric Reguly (@ereguly) June 15, 2021
Contrary to Globe and Mail reporter Eric Reguly’s assertion on June 15, when Israelis raise the Israeli flag, that is not a provocation for Hamas, what provokes Hamas is Israel’s, and the Jewish people’s, very existence. Palestinians may view the march as a “provocation,” but the Globe and Mail’s reporter should not adopt and endorse this view.
Reguly writes that “Hamas, which Israel and some other countries, including Canada, deem a terrorist organization.” In truth, Canada, the European Union, Israel, Japan and the United States have designated Hamas as a terrorist organization. Meanwhile, Australia, New Zealand, Paraguay and the United Kingdom have designated only its “military wing” as a terrorist organization.
Reguly reported that (emphasis added): “Israel went on high alert on Monday, when Hamas ASKED Israel to stop the march. ‘The flags march is like an explosive that will cause a new campaign to protect Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque to ignite,’ Hamas spokesman Abd al-Latif Qanou said in a statement.”
Hamas didn’t merely make a request and politely ask, they threatened to commit terrorism against Israeli civilians to achieve their goals, in other words, through extortion.
In an earlier version of this Globe article, Eric Reguly reported that: “By late evening, Hamas had not fired any rockets into Israel though Hamas militants attached incendiary devices to balloons that drifted into Israel, causing dozens of mostly small fires.”
Contrary to Reguly’s initial reporting, Palestinian incendiary devices were dispatched before the march, and not after. Hamas arson balloon terrorism from Gaza caused massive (not small) fires throughout southern Israel.
Multiple brush fires are currently raging in southern Israel due to airborne incendiary devices dispatched by Palestinian terrorist groups in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/0RrZSyK4wy
— Avi Mayer (@AviMayer) June 15, 2021
As with Eric Reguly’s recent Globe podcast which was rife with misinformation, and which lacked context, his June 15 report failed to accurately and fairly document the March of Flags and the recent threats and hostilities initiated by Hamas terrorists. Send your complaints to Eric Reguly directly by sending emails to ereguly@globeandmail.com and Tweet him at @Ereguly.
