With second attack in Jerusalem, Israel's Netanyahu is under siege
Only 14 hours after the mass shooting in Jerusalem, which killed seven Israelis, another attack struck as Netanyahu's far-right government looks for a heavy response.
JERUSALEM — Two Israeli citizens – a father and a son – were shot and wounded Saturday morning at the Ir David east Jerusalem neighborhood. The assailant, reportedly a 13-years-old Palestinian, was shot and wounded by the son, a soldier who carried with him his weapon. The attack followed another attack Friday night, also in Jerusalem, where seven people were killed by a Palestinian assailant, and three others were injured.
Both attacks are apparently being considered retaliation for Wednesday's Israeli counter-terrorism raid on the West Bank town of Jenin, in which at least nine Palestinians including two civilians were killed, the Palestinian health ministry reported. Israel said those killed were affiliated with Islamic Jihad and Hamas in order to pre-empt attacks, including in Jerusalem. In the unending cycle of attacks and counterattacks, over 10 rockets were fired from Gaza on southern Israel just hours after the Jenin raid. Israel responded with aerial bombings on Gaza.
From the opposition benches where he spent 18 months before returning to power last month, incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu periodically blamed the government for every attack. He argued that "terrorists" were encouraged to act in the face of a weak and illegitimate government that included the Islamist Israeli-Arab Ra’am party and what he labeled “leftists and liberals” and was therefore imperiling Israeli lives.
Netanyahu’s old comments are coming back to bite him now, except that the opposition he faces is different. None of its leaders, former Prime Minister Yair Lapid, former Defense Minister Benny Gantz and former Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman rushed to the site of the Friday night attack and take advantage of the killings to stir up public anger and incitement against Palestinians.
