When an Iran-backed militia fired rockets at an American base in northern Iraq, wounding an American soldier, the White House responded with a timid statement that declined to name the perpetrators. Unsurprisingly, two more attacks have followed in the week since. Mark Dubowitz and Behnam Ben Taleblu write:

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: