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Why the attacks on Palestinians were predictable - and what next for Israel

The group that carried out an arson attack on a Palestinian home last Friday, killing a toddler and seriously wounding parents and siblings, has torched dozens of Palestinian homes and mosques over the past six years.

August 6, 2015 14:21
A relative holds up a photo of murdered toddler Ali Dawabsheh (Picture: AP)

ByAnshel Pfeffer, Anshel Pfeffer

3 min read

It was indeed shocking. But it was not surprising.

The group that carried out an arson attack on a Palestinian home last Friday, killing a toddler and seriously wounding parents and siblings, has torched dozens of Palestinian homes and mosques over the past six years.

The man who stabbed six people at the Gay Pride march in Jerusalem a day earlier, ultimately ending the life of a 16-year-old, had been convicted for carrying out an identical attack at the same event in 2005.

But those ministers who issued stern and sincere condemnations of the attacks have nonetheless also read the intelligence reports on Jewish extremists over the years - and have allowed an atmosphere of intolerance, impunity and racism to persist.