Israelis and Palestinians argue in an alley in Jerusalem’s Old city May 29, 2022. REUTERS/Ammar Awad

Senior Israeli officials on Monday called for considering the designation of far-right Jewish groups as terrorist organizations, a day after some of its members chanted anti-Arab slogans and clashes erupted during an annual Jerusalem Day flag march.

“I believe the time has come to consider designating groups like La Familia and Lehava as terrorist organizations,” Defense Minister Benny Gantz said. “I know that the issue has been brought up with security organizations and I trust that the heads of the organizations will consider the examination in the cleanest and best way possible.”

Some 70,000 Israelis on Sunday marched and danced through Jerusalem’s Old City waving flags, amid tensions in the city between Jewish nationalist groups and Palestinians. Among the marchers were members of far-right Jerusalem soccer fan club La Familia and Jewish supremacist group Lehava, who were heard chanting “death to Arabs” and “may your villages burn,” inciting provocations that led to sporadic clashes between Jews and Arabs.

Gantz described the slogans from a “handful of instigators among the Jewish public” as “sickening,” pledging that Israel will prosecute the instigators and perpetrators of violence everywhere.

Joining Gantz, Israel’s Public Security Minister Omer Barlev stated that even before he was appointed to his position, he had turned to the attorney general to examine the possibility of outlawing La  Familia and Lehava.

“I intend to go back and contact the Attorney General to have them outlawed,” said Barlev. “There is no doubt that they harm the security of Israel, its internal security, our broad common denominator, and they need to be outlawed.”

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid described Sunday’s march as having been “tainted” by groups of extremists.

“This is not how the flag parade should look like on Jerusalem Day: not with the curses and violence of La Familia and the blatant and ugly racism of the Lehava organization,” Lapid tweeted. “Jerusalem deserves more. Israeli society deserves more. The Israeli flag is not theirs.”

“We will not allow them to deprive us of our Zionism and love of our country,” he added.

At the same time, Gantz commended Israeli security forces for maintaining the state’s sovereignty and protecting its citizens, while upholding the Temple Mount status quo and freedom of worship during Jerusalem Day celebrations.

“We did this in the face of extremist Muslim terrorists and rioters, some of whom even looted the sanctuary of the Temple Mount, and threw stones at the mosque,” Gantz remarked.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett thanked those officers who “stood on guard” during the events of Jerusalem Day.

“Except for an extremist group, whom we will deal with to the fullest extent of the law, those who celebrated yesterday did so in a very special, heart-lifting way,” Bennett said.