Bennett condemns ‘extremists’ at Flag March, but hails event itself

After meeting with Jerusalem police officers, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett condemns the “group of extremists” behind the violence at yesterday’s Jerusalem Day Flag March and says they will be brought to justice.

Despite the violence, Bennett says the march through the Muslim Quarter of the Old City — and not through a less contentious alternate route — “strengthens sovereignty and governance” in East Jerusalem.

“If we hadn’t done it through the normal route, we would effectively never be able to go back to it. It could have been a withdrawal of sovereignty,” he says. “We proved that the State of Israel acts based on what’s right and not based on threats.”

This is in reference to threats made by Hamas and other terror groups against the march through the Muslim Quarter. Similar threats were made last year before Hamas launched a number of rockets at Jerusalem from the Gaza Strip, sparking an 11-day miltary conflict known in Israel as Operation Guardian of the Walls.i