This morning some news in Israel worried me. Police greenlit a "Maccabi March" for extremists on Thursday, who claim the route will take them through Old City sites that sparked violence in April: chilling news for the start of Hanukkah.
BUUUT Israeli police say the route is being exaggerated by extremist marchers & those panicked by the thought of another clash at Al Aqsa Mosque/Temple Mount.
In other words: extremists *want* this route to provoke. That doesn't mean it has to.
As I've been saying and writing all year, no demographic is monolith:
Most people don't want further violence - and during holy days especially! - but there will always be minority extremists agitating and trying to make peace harder for the rest. In Christianity, in Islam, in Judaism, in Hinduism, in Buddhism... everywhere that some can leverage notions of a righteous cause.
But *oh*, I hope they don't succeed.
There is enough hardship already in these days. May there come a better peace. 🕯️