Let’s retire the phrase “fake news.” The right word for the statements from the Biden White House, the State Department, the Europeans and the United Nations, all of whom are calling for a de-escalation of the violence in Jerusalem, is counterfactual. The fact is that the sudden escalation in violence, centered in a real estate dispute in east Jerusalem, is dictated, mostly, by Hamas.

The Gaza-based terror organization decides when to shoot and at what targets. It is in a fury because the Palestinian Authority decided to cancel a scheduled election that Hamas was predicted to win. Eventually Hamas will also decide to end the current round of hostilities and beg for a ceasefire. Israel will quickly abide. Meantime, Hamas has decided to turn its fire to Israel.

The terrorist organization hitched a ride on a confluence of events, including the end of the holy month of Ramadan; Arab unrest over a real estate dispute at East Jerusalem; Israel’s annual celebration of Jerusalem Day; and riots at the al Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount. On Monday, Hamas announced an ultimatum for Israel to end its activities on the Temple Mount by 6 p.m. local o’clock.

When the deadline arrived, the al Aqsa area was actually fairly quiet. Yet Hamas launched a barrage of missiles from Gaza a few seconds after the 6pm deadline. Seven missiles were aimed at Jerusalem, far beyond the usual targeting range. One missile fell in Kiryat Anavim. At the same time, several rockets were launched at Sderot and other towns near the Gaza border that are all too familiar with such attacks.

All this is unfolding amid one of the bitterest feuds in the history of parliamentary democracy — the scramble to try to form a new government. Despite this, Israeli politicians, almost to a man and woman, vowed to back the decisions to respond forcefully that are being made by the premier nearly everyone outside of Likud wants to replace, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his defense minister.

At the center of the escalation is a dispute over a small number of buildings in East Jerusalem’s neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. It involves Israeli Jews who threatened to evict Arab residents for rent delinquencies. From the end of Israel’s war of independence in 1949 to the Israeli victory in the 1967 Six-Day-War, East Jerusalem and the West Bank were occupied by Jordan.

The Jordanian authorities have cleansed Jews from their previous homes there. However, Arabs that moved in never received deeds or any other proof of ownership to their new residences. The current dispute stems from demands of descendants of Jews who owned Sheikh Jarrah buildings before the Jordanians took over. They now say the Arab residents owe decades of rent.

The Arabs claim that, as long term occupants, they now own the buildings. On Sunday the Supreme Court, announced, likely due to violence surrounding the issue, that it would defer any decision for 30 days. Yet the same day, according to a White House readout, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, had a phone call to his Israeli counterpart, Meir Ben Shabbat.

In it, Mr. Sullivan “reiterated the United States’ serious concerns about potential evictions of Palestinian families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.” Mr. Sullivan in effect leaned on a member of the Israeli executive branch to interfere in a decision of the Supreme Court, which in democracies like Israel’s and America’s is independent as part of the separation of powers.

Additionally, by declaring that the Arab side in the judicial dispute own “their homes,” Mr. Sullivan also announced that America sides with one side in the case. Enpassant, he in effect expressed no-confidence in the competence — or authority — of Israel’s Supreme Court to decide the matter. It’s worse than the blunder Mr. Biden made when, on a visit to Jerusalem as vice president, he blew up over a real estate issue.

The readout of the phone call came a day after America joined Russia, the EU, and the UN, known as “the quartet,” in expressing “serious concern [over] the possible evictions of Palestinian families from homes they have lived in for generations in Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, and voice opposition to unilateral actions, which will only escalate the already tense environment.”

“The Quartet” was all the rage in the heyday of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Founded when President Clinton was trying to end the Arab-Israeli wars, the group has been all but defunct — and largely dormant as President Trump attempted to ignore endless Palestinian bickering and, instead, concentrate on peace treaties between Israel and Arab states, known as the Abraham Accords.

Gathering the Quartet back together represents President Biden’s tendency to resolve disputes in concert with other world powers — all of which, particularly the Europeans and the UN, are hostile to the Jewish state. On Monday, the UN Security Council met for closed door consultations, called by the Arab council member, Tunisia. That gathering put America in an uncomfortable position

The return to American attempts at mediation, which necessitates treating both Israel and the Palestinians as equal players, is far from the only cause for the current violence. Ramadan, religious sensitivities in Jerusalem, Jewish and Arab extremists — all these, exploited by Hamas, caused the escalation. And Hamas, an ally of Iran, knows exactly what it is doing.

In addition to its Iranian sponsors, Hamas took its cue from Washington’s decision to return to past policies that put the Palestinians at, or near, the center of America’s Mideast policies. That is being coupled with Mr. Biden’s new emphasis on uniting the overrated “international community.” No wonder Hamas feels that the world is behind its demands.

________

Twitter @bennyavni