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Source: https://www.jns.org/is-palestinian-incitement-driving-the-tensions-in-jerusalem/
The Unwitting Western Supporters of Palestinian Jihad
(JNS) Josh Hasten - "Al-Aqsa is in danger" has served as a battle cry against the Jews for the past 100 years, says Dan Diker, director of the Political Warfare Project at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. "100 years ago, the first Palestinian spiritual leader Haj Amin a-Husseini, the head of the Muslim supreme council at the time, incited against the Jews by declaring 'Al-Aqsa is in danger.'" "How the West falls for this every time is curious. This has been an explicit strategy of PA leadership since 1993, in order to ignite the Middle East and to mobilize the West against Israel in recent decades. It is incumbent upon Western policymakers to understand this exploitation of sensitive religious sites that only Israel can protect for all religions. Those who ignite jihad throughout the Middle East and Muslim world make their Western partners unwitting supporters of Palestinian jihad under the banner of protecting Palestinians' religious and human rights." Lt.-Col. (res.) Maurice Hirsch, director of Legal Strategies for Palestinian Media Watch, said the current violence in Jerusalem has nothing to do with property issues in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. "This round of violence was premeditated and planned by both Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah and Hamas....On the backdrop of the now-canceled Palestinian elections, both Fatah and Hamas were trying to win the hearts of the Palestinian voters, each one showing their credentials as the self-declared defenders of Jerusalem. Each one had to outdo the other."