"Either way Israel's far right wins"

Chris Doyle of the Council of Arab-British Understanding, reflects on the call made by Moshe Feiglin, a prominent lawmaker in Netanyahu's Likud party, for the Temple Mount to be opened for Jewish prayer following the shooting. Doyle says the violence will likely benefit Israel’s far right:

Calling on Jews to go and pray at al-Aqsa is a deliberately provocative reaction; it dares Palestinians to come out and clash, and it dares the Israeli authorities to stop the Jews from praying. Either way the Israeli right wins. If they get a violent reaction from the Palestinians then the Israeli authorities will be forced to take action, which further intensifies the situation, if they stop Feiglin from praying then he becomes a victim.

What you’re seeing is the Israeli coalition really attempting to make life tough for Netanyahu, they are goading him on: are you going to stop a member of the Knesset from praying on temple mount even at this most sensitive moment?

It’s in the interests of some on the Israeli right, in the settler lobby, to actually trigger a new wave of violence amongst Palestinians. In each and every single one of these cases, including the killing of the three Israeli teenagers over the summer, they (the Israeli far right) are seen ultimately to gain. It creates the conditions where Israel is seen as more isolated internationally, and where it has to show defiance, which ultimately will leads to more land grabs and settlements.