Social media fuel Israel-Palestine clashes

As the bloodshed between Israelis and Palestinians continues for more than a month due to hatred and enmity, spontaneous violence by teenagers from both sides who are stimulated by texts and videos on social media make the situation more complicated. The New York Times reported Tuesday that young Palestinians who are spurred on by social media are taking to the streets with kitchen knives in their hands, raising the possibility of the third Palestinian intifada.

On Tuesday, two Palestinian men fired gunshots at random and wielded weapons against Israeli passengers on a bus running in Jerusalem, killing two and injuring one. At the same hour, a Palestinian man brandished a weapon, seriously wounding one citizen in Tel Aviv, the economic capital of Israel.

A day earlier, two Palestinian boys, each at age 13 and 15, respectively, stabbed a 13-year-old Israeli boy in Pisgat Zeev in northern Israel, while a 16-year-old Palestinian girl attacked an Israeli policeman with a knife.

The violent clash between the two sides intensified over the the Al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. At least 28 Palestinians were shot to death by Israelis this month alone, while eight Israelis were also killed by Palestinian attackers. The Associated Press reported that the recent series of terror attacks in the middle of the Israeli capital have shocked many citizens.

Many posts on social media are fueling the clashes. On Palestinian social networks a photo of a Palestinian boy surrounded by armed Israeli soldiers and videos showing a Palestinian woman being shot by Israeli troops are going viral. Hamas, the Palestinian militant government, is calling for an intifada, spreading a slogan urging defeating Jews. The Israeli daily Haaretz criticized the videos for being instigative and lacking scenes the girl and the woman in question wielding a weapon.

Fourteen of 23 Palestinian assailants since October 3 are teenagers. The New York Times quoted an Israeli expert as saying that although Israel is tracking down terror-related social media posts and asks Google to remove such videos, there is no quick solution to the reckless terror attacks by teenagers stimulated by social media.

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