By attacking the al-Aqsa mosque and encouraging settler violence in #SheikhJarrah, Israeli security forces aimed to push Palestinians to a violence. This can be held up to the world as evidence of terrorism - eviscerating sympathy & legitimising a massive security crackdown.

Netanyahu pioneered "war on terror" rhetoric over 4 decades ago. He knows exactly what he's doing, and he knows a security crisis will drive a wedge between those seeking to form a coalition that can replace him as PM.

(Netanyahu is being pursued by courts on multiple corruption cases and only has immunity whilst he's PM, but just failed to form a government for the 4th time in 2.5 years.)

I meant to tweet this thread last night, but Netanyahu's dream just came true:
https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1391772825405562882
Now they can move the story away from settlers violently dispossessing Palestinians of their homes, a racist court and an attack on al-Aqsa, to "clashes with terrorists"

Palestine was the case study we used in our book on the relationship between authoritarianism & terrorism. During the 2nd intifada Israel concertedly pushed Palestinians *away* from non-violent protest toward violence, in order to make repressing them palatable to the world.

The first intifada was a disaster to Israel around the world, solidifying it's image as a brutal, authoritarian bully.

They deliberately provoked violence the next time so it wouldn't happen again - and Hamas was all too happy to oblige.. History repeats.

Be ready to hear all the tropes again in the coming days - Islamic extremism, the security threat, "they don't want peace", anti-semitism, Hamas...

When you do, remember how this all started. Settlers, aided by police and a racist court, expelling people from homes.