They sighed in relief in the government. The worrisome and threatening event passed without alarming repercussions. "The March of Flags" from the Damascus Gate and through the Old City unto the Kosel, ended peacefully, aside from antagonizing shouts from a handful of hooligans from both sides.
The security apparatus was in high gear. Iron Dome batteries were situated in various spots across the country to forfend trouble. Air force planes hovered above the Gaza Strip to serve as warning, and thousands of police guarded the events in Jerusalem, but at the end of the day, there was nothing to report.
This was evident from the early Hamas announcements that nothing took place. Hamas declared that if the demonstrators would storm into El Aksa, the Moslems would retaliate. But even they themselves realized that these were empty threats because the march never goes near the mosque. In all of the dozens of years, this march invariably ended at the foot of the Kosel. Notwithstanding, the security system took no chances, and justifiably so, being prepared for the worst. In end, boruch Hashem, it ended peacefully.
The analysts are trying to explain why last year Hamas sent rockets at Jerusalem at the beginning of the march while this year they held back. The natural explanation is simple: Gaza has not yet recovered from the "Guardians of the Walls" military operation and the huge damages which it caused last year.
The desperate economic situation prevented the Hamas leadership from launching additional acts of warfare, knowing that any was attack on Jerusalem would arouse a sharp reaction — with the agreement of Mansour Abaas or without him.
Hamas is biding its time between one round and another so that it can reorganize itself and recoup its losses in preparation for an extended warfare. Only one year is not enough to recover so that beyond arrogant boasting and empty threats, the Gaza terrorists didn't do a thing.
The ones who are swaggering with conceit together with Hamas are the government members who boast that "their guard" is responsible for the uneventful Yom Yerushalayim events while during Netanyahu's office, Jerusalem was shelled. But they forget that between the rockets of last year and the events of this year, a military campaign took place. Not that all concur that it was successful but it forced the terrorist organization, which also governs the lives of the civilians in Gaza, to weigh every military action if it was worthwhile. So there is no reason for anyone to brag and boast, surely not the present government which, while even if it survived the event without clashes, it cannot be said whether it was thanks to it, or in spite of it.
