In an article in the NYT, Anshel Pfeffer, an Israeli political commentator and biographer of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, is quoted as saying,

“Netanyahu didn’t invent the tensions between Jews and Arabs. They’ve been here since before Israel was founded. But over his long years in power, he’s stoked and exploited these tensions for political gain time and again and has now miserably failed as a leader to put out the fires when it boiled over.”

One has to wonder how much of the present outbreak of violence between the Palestinians and the Israelis is explained by the political ambitions and election maneuvering of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in his effort to hold onto power.