Israel Repeatedly Provoked Current Hostilities, Now and for Decades

Remember when Trump used troops to clear the area near the White House, so he could do a photo-op holding a bible in front of a church, as NPR reported here,Peaceful Protesters Tear-Gassed To Clear Way For Trump ...

Vox, reports, in its article, The Gaza Doom Loop,

"The current violence began with a series of conflicts in Jerusalem.

Israeli police in the city blocked off the Damascus Gate, a popular gathering place for Arabs during Ramadan, sparking protests. An attempt by Jewish settlers to evict longtime Arab residents of Sheikh Jarrah, an Arab neighborhood of East Jerusalem, inflamed tensions, leading to violent clashes with Israeli police. Arab youth attacked ultra-Orthodox Jews in the city, and Jewish extremists assailed Arab residents. All of this culminated in a violent Israeli police raid on the al-Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalem's holiest site for Muslims, located on the Temple Mount (the holiest site in the world for Jews)."

Then there's this this article from Politico, Israel Provoked This War. Except this was written in 2014. It said,

"Israel's assault on Gaza, as pointed out by analyst Nathan Thrall in the New York Times, was not triggered by Hamas' rockets directed at Israel but by Israel's determination to bring down the Palestinian unity government that was formed in early June, even though that government was committed to honoring all of the conditions imposed by the international community for recognition of its legitimacy.

And, Counterpunch wrote, in this 2001article, How Israel Provoked Hamas,

"It began, "We again find ourselves preparing with dread for a new mass terrorist attack within the Green Line [Israel's pre-'67 border]." Since Fishman was entirely accurate in this regard, we should mark closely what he wrote next. "Whoever gave a green light to this act of liquidation knew full well that he is thereby shattering in one blow the gentleman's agreement between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority; under that agreement, Hamas was to avoid in the near future suicide bombings inside the Green Line, of the kind perpetrated at the Dolphinarium [discotheque in Tel-Aviv]."

Israeli ambassador Michael Oren says that 80% of Israelis support the CONTINUED massive attacks on the Palestinians. Engaging the nation in conflict is a long known strategy by weak national leaders. Bibi Netanyahu's provocation of Hamas seems to fit this pattern. But eighty percent approval? Really. I'd say that whoever came up with the idea to provoke Hamas, as a way to gain political support, did amazingly well, getting that 80% support.

Israel-supporting media is suggesting that the provocation argument is Hamas propaganda. I'd say that the claim that it is Israeli propaganda.

The proposal that there is any kind of symmetry between the damage and death Hamas produces and what Israel produces is a grotesque distortion of reality. It has been that way for decades.

We need to see Israeli provocations for what they are, political actions aimed at consolidating power and influence. The United States is being played-- again. Thank goodness, this time, there is a bigger base of Palestinian support in Congress. Nancy Pelosi is not on board. But even Chuck Schumer has called for a cease fire. Congress should hold hearings on this. You may support a friend who starts a fight, but the support is different from the support you give if your friend is always the one starting the fight.

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