Israel Is Beginning to Eat Its Own

An unrelenting wave of Palestinian violence has Israeli leaders at each other’s throats — and it’s going to get even uglier.

• By Amos Harel
• February 22, 2016 | http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/02/22/israel-eats-its-own-palestine-violence-intifada-netanyahu-livni-herzog-lapid/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=New%20Campaign&utm_term=*Editors%20Picks&wp_login_redirect=0

After nearly five months of continuous violence, Israel finally seems to have lost its nerve.
Although Israelis have encountered far more serious periods of conflict with Palestinians in the past, the current era of stabbings and vehicle attacks has thrown them off balance. Even in the most horrific times of the Second Intifada, when suicide bombers blew themselves up twice a week on the streets of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, a very Jewish version of the “stiff upper lip” persisted — everyday life continued apace, with businesses and schools remaining open.
This time, however, things have evolved differently. While the number of casualties remains significantly lower than the comparable period in the beginning of the Second Intifada in 2000 — 174 Palestinians and 31 Israelis have died so far, about 60 percent of the numbers last time — the Israeli reaction seems far more frantic and confused.
The government is now actively promoting a bill that would allow Knesset members to suspend their colleagues for supporting terrorism, as well as a “transparency bill” that would force left-wing NGOs receiving financial support from foreign governments to publicly report such assistance.