What is new has been the rioting in mixed Jewish-Arab cities
The current fighting between Hamas and Israel is to a large extent a rerun: It is the fifth major confrontation between Israel and Hamas since Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005. We have seen this script before: Thousands of rockets Hamas rockets, albeit with longer range, improved accuracy, and larger payloads aimed at Israel’s cities; international condemnations of Israel’s response to the deliberate targeting of its civilian population as “disproportionate”; and UN calls for a cease-fire before sufficient damage has been inflicted on the Hamas military infrastructure that it will not feel free to resume where it left off in a matter of months or a few years at the most.
Please note that the posts on The Blogs are contributed by third parties. The opinions, facts and any media content in them are presented solely by the authors, and neither The Times of Israel nor its partners assume any responsibility for them. Please contact us in case of abuse. In case of abuse,
Synagogues are set alight by arsonists. An elderly Arab man is killed. A Jewish soldier is viciously beaten. A Jewish police officer is shot. A Jewish family is attacked. A fish restaurant and a hotel owned by Jews are torched. A pregnant Arab woman is seriously injured by a rock thrown at her head. An Arab driver is dragged from his car and pummelled by a mob.
Middle East Near You Israel coalition talks suffer blow as Arab party pulls out of negotiations after attack on Jerusalem
Mansour Abbas (R), head of Israel s conservative Islamic Raam party, speaks to a crowd during a political gathering to congratulate him on the electoral victory in the northern Israeli village of Maghar on March 26, 2021 [AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images] May 11, 2021 at 3:27 pm
The chances of a new Israeli government replacing the far-right coalition of Benjamin Netanyahu has suffered a blow following the decision by the Ra am Party to freeze contacts with Yair Lapid, leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party, as assaults against Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem increase.
Anatomy of an intentional escalation: Israel’s approaching hot summer
feature
Anatomy of an intentional escalation: Israel’s approaching hot summer
The coming months will be tense for Israel and quite possibly very violent. Conflict aligns with the interests of the various Palestinian factions, as well as those of Turkey and Iran.
By David Wurmser
(May 11, 2021 / JNS) There seems to be an escalatory effort underway within Israel, in the administered territories in Judea and Samaria, along Israel’s northern and Gaza borders and even globally, which could lead to great tension, even war, in the coming months. This is not a mutually reinforcing cycle of violence between two sides, but a concerted offensive serving the strategic aims of a number of Israel’s enemies.