Blinken in Israel to meet Netanyahu's new hard-line government amid spiraling violence with Palestinians
CBSN
Jerusalem — Israel and the occupied West Bank were rocked by violence over the weekend, including an attack in East Jerusalem that saw a Palestinian gunman open fire on a Jewish settlement in the disputed part of the holy city, killing seven people. The latest bloodshed came after weeks of mounting tension between Israel and the Palestinians — and just hours before U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Jerusalem to meet members of Israel's new far-right government.
Given the stark differences between the administration of President Joe Biden in Washington and Israel's newly-seated government, Blinken's trip was always going to be tense. With the security situation in the heart of the Middle East deteriorating so rapidly and the death toll on both sides of the decades-old standoff rising, that was even more true.
The funeral of Eli and Natalie Mizrahi, a married couple in their 40s, following the deadliest attack on Israelis since 2008, was emotional and angry. They were among seven people killed Friday when a 21-year-old Palestinian opened fire close to a synagogue in East Jerusalem.
