Nir Hasson

Who Lit the Match That Started the Fire?

Haaretz has falsely charged that the Israeli-Palestinian violence started due to "a disrespectful attack at the Al-Aqsa Mosque." Ignoring the evidence, many other media outlets around the world have echoed this. In fact, the chain of events indicates not only that the violence was a pre-planned Hamas initiative, but also that it was instigated despite a series of steps that the Israeli government took to calm things down, steps that had a heavy political and public cost in Israel.