On Monday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the U.S. no longer held it a violation of international law for Jews to live or build houses on lands acquired by Israel during the Six-Day War. This opinion runs contrary to the stance of the Carter and Obama administrations, as well as that of most West European governments, but rests on a coherent and logical understanding of the law. Amnon Lord explains its significance:

While many in the West seem to think the current fighting in Israel is about housing policy, or human rights, or the selective blockade of the Gaza Strip, the rhetoric of Palestinian leaders and on Palestinian social media makes clear that it is in fact about al-Aqsa mosque. This should come as no surprise: fabricated claims that “al-Aqsa is in danger” have been used to provoke anti-Jewish violence for a hundred years. In this particular case, explains Haviv Rettig Gur, both Hamas and Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party exploited the claim in their rivalry for Palestinian hearts and minds: