The streets of Israel are once again stained with blood. On Tuesday, the seaside town of Jaffa was the scene of a horrific attack when a 22-year-old Palestinian killed a 29-year-old man and stabbed ten others. By current Middle East standards this violence is small scale, but the 320 stabbings, shootings and car ramming’s since last September are a macabre new normal that blights life in Israel.

The attacks are hard to prevent. The perpetrators are very young Palestinians and not members of terrorist groups. Their weapons are basic and the process of radicalisation, from violent idea to violent act, is completely unique.

BICOM research examining the Facebook pages of attackers revealed that initially they were fixated with false rumours that Israel was violating the Muslim holy places in Jerusalem. Later, attackers were obsessed with avenging the death of martyrs who they believed had been executed by Israeli forces. Palestinian media and Hamas repeatedly lied that Palestinians, who had been killed as they launched attacks against Israelis, were in fact being executed. The Palestinian President Abbas even repeated the charge, citing the case of a young boy whom he said had been executed, but who was alive and being treated in an Israeli hospital. Palestinian groups have filled twitter feeds and Facebook pages with gruesome images and Antisemitic cartoons of Jews being stabbed.

To read the article in full go to The Telegraph.