Israeli political analyst Akiva Erd stated that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is "doing everything he can" to provoke Palestinians ahead of Tuesday's Israeli elections. Netanyahu's strategy relies on escalating the conflict to serve his political interests. What Netanyahu needs is an escalation of the situation. He has consistently done everything he can to provoke Palestinians, if not Iran, through rhetoric and support for violent settlers. Netanyahu may use the attack on the West Bank city of Hebron to claim that Israeli citizens are no longer safe in the occupied West Bank, thereby suspending the elections. He might even argue that since the attack occurred, Israel cannot hold elections in the occupied West Bank. He might even try to resort to the courts or invoke emergency laws to justify this claim.
