al jazeera talk to al jazeera. we also do believe that women of august, that was somehow abandoned by the international community. we listen, we have a huge price for the rural. i'm gonna tell us what's going on. and so money we meet with global news makers. i'm talk about the stories that matter on al jazeera. ah al jazeera. when ever you. oh oh, i'm mary. i'm new mozy and london al, breaking news story this hour. at least 7 people are reported dead in a shooting at a synagogue. this has taken place in occupied east jerusalem,

according to israeli ambulance service is 10 people, a wounded as got a diplomatic as a james bay's, who is there, change what, what do we know while the situation still a little confused, but we're getting a clearer picture of what has happened in a navy, a cove or a settlement in east jerusalem? the figures we've got here now 7 people a dead, including a 15 year old boy. let me just step out of the shot and show you the scene here. you can see beyond the police car, the 2 coaches that a slightly up the hill that is never your cove. now our understanding is that a car pulled up there. the person who went in then to the synagogue following the shots got out of that car, are also understanding now is that there was a 2nd person possibly in the car, and the israeli authorities are now searching for that 2nd person. we understand

that people injured in this attack, the number of injured has as changed as the reports have come in and, and frankly, as the death tolls as risen. the latest report says say in addition to 7 dead, and that includes the 15 year old boy, there are 3 people who have been injured. i can hear a helicopter overhead right now. we think that is the israeli military, these railey police, searching the scene, looking to try and find that other person who was the accomplice of the attacker. we have a name that the israeli authorities have given us of the attacker. they say that the man that was killed the one attacker who carried out the shooting and them was killed by israeli police was called fatty eye ash. and he was from the show a fat refugee camp, which is not far away. the short fat refugee camp is just over that way pretty

close to the neck. never called settlements. and of course, remember never cove settlement and a legal settlement built in an area that supposed to be a palestinian area. and that's why the 2 communities are living. so close to each other, but a very, very grim news here. obviously following the developments that had happened in jeanine following the overnight rockets and the overnight attacks in a garza, the situation deteriorating on, on the ground, the security situation just a few hours before the u. s, secretary of state antony blinking is going to be here on a visit to the region, a pre planned visit. but clearly now a very important visit, not just diplomatically, but given the events on the ground and the deteriorating situation on the ground. also worth telling you earlier on in the last 20 minutes or so, there were quite a lot, a lot of palestinian bystanders here. well, the israeli forces were using stun grenades. they disbursed those people in the

last few minutes and those bystanders are no longer here on the street. just a small group or press watching the situation all suits was telling you that we've heard reports from israeli media that had never your cough just behind me where this attack took place. the controversial security minister of israel. it's a mob been kabir, he has visited the scene we're told in the last hour or so. all right, thank you very much. james bayes reporting live there from occupied east jerusalem . after at least 7 people were killed and several more injured in a shooting attack. is took place in occupied east jerusalem in a synagogue. and now we understand that 3 people have been injured. and one of the attackers has been shot and killed, but to israeli lease and security forces are searching for a 2nd assailant. and of course, this comes after tensions have been rising. it's been a day of protesting occupied westbank with the palestinians rallying there just

after the deadliest israeli rate in almost 2 decades. and jeanine joining forces fight, tear gas as you threw stones at them in our ram, and the nablus region just gives you an idea of where the situation stands at the moment. the bottom line is coming up next, but the news continues very shortly. i'll be back with you later. ah, hi, i'm steve clemens and i have a question now that israel has a new right wing government in place, does the biden administration have a new strategy to deal with it? let's get to the bottom line. ah, the middle east has long been put on the backburner by us administrations, but there's been a flurry of diplomatic activity after israel held its latest elections. president joe biden sent his national security adviser jake sullivan to meet with israeli and palestinian leaders last week. and now his secretary of state anthony blinking is

going next week is really prime minister benjamin netanyahu has stacked his new government with ministers who let's face it, have a history of racism and incitement against palestinians and is moving towards basically annexing the west bank. that goes against official u. s. policy, which is to keep the door open to a palestinian state. but is that still on the table? or is us policy toward israel mainly focused on other regional issues like iran and saudi arabia. today we're talking with professor juan cole, who teaches history at the university of michigan, and is the chief editor of informed comment, a website focused on u. s. foreign policy. doctor cole, it's so good to be talking with you again. can you give our viewers a snapshot of the moment, both politically, in israel, politically in palestine, and what joe biden is up to sending his national security adviser and the secretary of state into israel. now the israeli political system is broken. i, it's had the state has had several elections just

a couple years and they've been, have had a great deal of difficulty putting together a ruling volition that had any staying power. one of the problems had been that most center and center right. parties in israel were reluctant to align with the lucas party, which is led by ben. you mean that, you know, and that's in ya is under, is i as on trial or corruption. ah, and is notoriously difficult to work with. they did put together a government last year that just lasted for a year, but only by the expediency of inviting essentially a mother, a muslim brotherhood party of palestinian israeli st to,

to join the government was the 1st time this this had happened in israeli history. and that was a very difficult coalition of a parties that didn't agree with one another. and it's lapse last summer in part over the west bank because there's a law that extends israeli lot administration to be squatters from israel on ballast indian land in the west bank that was up for renewal. and the part of the coalition that was palestinian israelis declined to go along with, with voting it in. and so the government lapsed over that they had new elections. and since the center right, didn't want to well less with net. anyhow, he wanted to put together a government he was willing to cross red lines that had been there in israeli politics. and to invite into his cabinet. members of

very, very, very far right parties. i mean, it would not be wrong to call them racists and fascist parties, and leaders of which had in fact been convicted of racial incitement. and that these were untouchable groups in previous israeli politics. but but then nathan, y'all wanted to be prime minister so much they brought them in and he not only brought them in but gave them a great deal of power, including over because tinian occupied population in the palestinian west bank. well, nothing yo has made pronouncements that he wants to extend is really sovereignty everywhere, including the negative and the west bank where there are substantial austonia and israeli populations. and there's talk of annexation of the

west bank or of parts of it. and this is a huge public relations problem for the biden administration. so i guess my question is, what from your perspective is not clicking in terms of israel coming to terms with its immediate neighborhood, even though it had the abraham accords. and even though it has normalized with other parts of the arab world, well steve, you make good points. it's those kind of shocking to see a society like israel's, which is full of highly educated people. the majority of whom have liberal values being ruled by this kind of very far right government. but on the other hand, you know, let's look at it this way. first of all, israel shouldn't be thought of as, as that different from other countries. as g d p is kind of like portugal. and

although people are well off, it is real, they're still poverty. and the per capita income is is the middle income countries . so it's, it's not a rich country, it's not dubai. and moreover, it's an immigrant society. and this is very important for it's clinical evolution. the 1st generation of politically active israelis who came after world war 2 were many of them, a holocaust survivors are, you know, we're european, central european jews. these are called us canada, xen, and they tend to be left of center. there's the labor party kind of ruled the roost and dominated many institutions in israeli society. but at the same time that they were coming or a little later, actually riots broke out and various forms of persecution broke out in the muslim

world against jews who were then identified with israelis. and there was anger over the expulsion of palestinians. and in one way, in the information of israel in the world. and so large numbers of people came to israel, who were easterners, they were so far deem or misery, him, jews. and they very different values and customs and full ways that the central european just did. so you were throwing tunisians and moroccans and iranians in with germans and polls and so forth. and initially the, the eastern jews were disadvantaged. they, they had the lowest jobs in society, they renewals and there were demonstrations in 1965 on their part against

the noisy dominance of everything. but then from the seventy's, they got to be numerous to knobs. that they were invited in by the huge party which was a right wing party, the challenge labor and to challenge the israeli center left. ah. and they went for it with alacrity. ah. and so you have this middle eastern jewish community with middle eastern antecedents. dad used to the used to the right of fuels, you know, aggrieved in the same way. perhaps that trump supporters in the united states fell to grieve by their exclusion from the heights of israel. society and then in the ninety's, you had a 1000000 post. soviet people come in, russians and ukrainians, and other people from the old east block. and they were

from a society that was the soviet union. and most of the union, russia was collapsing, the last 10000000 people to, to, to alcoholism and restitution weren't functioning. and these people who came in right to israel wanted, wanted to make a new life and they had no sympathy with palestinians right there. they were in it for themselves, right. what are the problems of legitimacy and direction on the palestinian side? well, you know, those elections that were held in 2006 were relatively free and open and hamas one down. right. and the bush administration had convinced the israeli government over its better instincts to allow him to run and how much victory was acceptable to the americans entered. the israelis was a huge mistake on bushes part and then they,

over through the mosque, government arrested many of its members except they were unable to overthrow it in, in the gaza strip in the west bank. it was simply, but there was a cool sabre of yellow. ah. and since the pillow doesn't know whether it would win, no, their election doesn't hold them. and i think the americans do these really are, you know, put pressure on them not to hold them. it's true that the palestine authority is riddled with corruption but you know, i, i don't think that the, the blame for this stagnant stagnation of palestinian politics in the west bank and gaza or for the more extremist voices that we hear from it. you know, falls on the palestinians. they're unoccupied. people. they're not allowed during much in the way of me and even the palestine authority,

which helps the israelis to least the palestinians, basically only it's read only runs to 40 percent of the west bank rest is under direct israeli military rule. so unoccupied population that gradually having its progress taken away, its sovereignty taken away, its land taken away is not going to throw up healthy politics. this is not a situation that this going to be conducive to that. you know, one of the things that has struck me over years of, of being interested in this issue is watching american, senior officials come out with a strong objective to try to resolve these issues. you know, deal with try to figure out strategies to de, occupy the west bank. i remember secretary john kerry now the climate in boy a president biden said there is no more important issue would always show us maps in his office of things that he felt were outrageous and that he was gonna make them

the highest priority and go in and do them, and every single time these efforts were neutralized or not taken forward by the presidents in place. what do you think president biden is trying to do really with jake sullivan and anthony blinking right now? or is it just floundering? well, i have a pretty cynical view of american policy on the steve. i think that the biden administration is among the more pro israeli administrations that we've seen. it's not going to play fair with palestinians. and i think, you know, the way that the americans have muddled through their need, your support for virtually anything it is really government does to keep talking about a peace process and a 2 state solution. and there is, there hasn't been a peace process of any genuine sort for, for a decade. and the prospect of the israelis ever letting palestinians have

a state is, is slim to none. so this, these are just montrose, these are just things that, you know, the u. s. gets criticized by a steer a p at allies for supporting this and supportable illegal occupation of 5000000 people who are stripped of citizenship in a basic human rights. and what does the us say, well, we're working on it, we have a peace process, will be a 2 state solution. so what put these invoice from biden are doing, are going to to net to y'all and, and sank. be, be shut up. you know, you, you are, you are upsetting the apple cart here because the things you are saying are incompatible with our montrose in compatible with a 2 state solution and compatible with their being a piece process. i don't think the pressure is on him to do very much, but they just don't want him to give away the show and tell the world what exactly is happening when you know another dimension here that i find interesting is

netanyahu seems to be indicated, indicating that they're very close to announcing, you know, normalization of some sort with saudi arabia. is there a point where relations with saudi arabia, with china, with russia out flank america's influence with israel, despite all of our contributions, despite all of american investment in israel? is there a point geopolitically where israel has options other than the united states? well, i don't think that's even on the table right now. steve. the israelis in the united states are very close and i don't see that changing anytime soon. i think what the issue is expanding the number of states that recognized israel in the arab world is that jerry pushed nor picked off the easy ones already. so the united arab emirates never really been at war with israel and isn't close to it. and is

a small state of a 1000000 citizens plus $9000000.00 or $8000000.00 guest workers. so, and which one it access to israeli technology. so they're doing great technological interchange is the us and israel. it was a marriage made in heaven from their point of view and battering to tiny country in the persian gulf, which is deeply afraid of being annexed by iran. would do anything to avoid that. and so even making friends with israel, which is anti iranian makes sense for them. they brought in morocco, which has its own domestic problems. and this was a way of getting international recognition for, from rocco's claims to the western sahara. so, but then after that, algeria, you know, syria, these other countries are not,

you know, so easily convinced them, and even saudi arabia, you know, the old guard and saudi arabia, king saw mine, and the people around him are dead set against normal relations with israel until there's palestinian state they put forward is the, the saudis put forward a peace plan in the early zeros, and they still stick to it. the younger generation, saudi arabia, leaders like mom had been somebody, i think would be perfectly happy. and his signal this in new york to throw the palestinians under the bus and just make normal relations with israel. but i think until his father dies you little unlikely to see progress on normalization between israel and saudi arabia. and the, the fact that natania has brought in these flaming extremists on designers side makes it even more difficult for kings online to, to move forward. and remember,

there's the, the saudis are 40 percent, well, hobby, and there are a lot of people in saudi arabia who really anti israel. and while the king is an absolute monarch, he does have to shift with the winds a little bit. so the taking this step at this juncture, i think, could really cause domestic troubles and saudi arabia and for that reason that i don't expect. well, i think one of the constant, you know, dimensions of the chessboard in the region is whether, you know, iran continues to be the driver of closer relationships between these states. you know, the u a. e, and as you said, bahrain, saudi arabia and israel, whether it happens now, or, you know, a few years from now essentially a common purpose of defense. but along that line, i want to raise a letter, there was an open letter published by someone, you know, well, former us ambassador israel daniel kurtz or wrote an open letter to president biden

. and here it is. he says, israel's should be told that while the united states will continue to support its allies, legitimate security requirements, it will not provide offensive weapons or other assistance for malign israel actions in jerusalem or the occupied territories. perhaps would encourage her saying, let's not, let's not give israel any tools to further encroach or move on what prime minister netanyahu is said by, you know, finally envelope being and annexing all of the west bank. but at the same time, there is a very big security dimension to the abraham courts and is a very big security dimension to our relationship with israel on its defense. that does involve trying to preempt both iran and it's appendages that are operating in the middle east. so how do you square, how do you read dan curts, there's comment and square it. well i, i think curvature is judicious. i think her on these matters and that the by the administration has taken to heart what he said it's been leaked and you know,

i can prove this, but it's been leak that j sullivan, the national security advisor. when he met with matt danielle, even put pressure on him about his domestic plans. that natania wants to neuter the israeli court system and to allow parliament to overrule judicial review of a law that is found and constitutional with just a simple majority. and to have the prime minister play a bigger role or a role doesn't now have and you know, appointing justices and so forth. the steps that if they were taken and the form that they've been suggested would make israel, you know, another hungary, it would be a big move towards autocracy. and it's leak. the sullivan told him that if he does this to the, to the court, that it's going to make it very difficult for the biden administration to get israel. many of the things that israel wants from the u. s. congress. because you

have a 40 caucus, a progressive wing of the biden democratic party, and 40 person caucus that is extremely upset about what's going on in israel and the lack of progress. where dr for palestinians. and if israel starts to look more and more like a 3rd world dictatorship, the liberal democrats are just not going to get the israelis benefit of doubt in the, in their appropriations. but just finally, you know, when you kind of look at the politics of that, if that 40 member progressive wing of the house, which is no longer in control of the house, or even president biden were to veto packages of support that came in from congress, from a republican controlled house that got through the senate and, and were so, you know, turn there and find where to reject it. we have elections of the united states in 2

years. is this become a very big political issue. when we may see the return of president trump, or someone who seems and sounds a lot like president trump, perhaps rhonda centers or others, you don't come along where now we have a very stark divide. that is very consequential for the course of israel, depending on whether republican president winter, a democratic president winds will. netanyahu has more or less openly campaigned for republican presidents. there isn't any doubt that he feels that israel is given a greater room maneuver by the republicans and it's true that president trump really didn't deny them anything they wanted. but we don't know, of course, but the future where the future lies. but biden is not able to act unilaterally, has his own democratic party to please, and he seems to want to run for reelection,

which means making democrats enthusiastic about him. well, if you look at the polling, there are a lot of democrats who are very upset with the net and you know, governor and, and the direction that israel is going and, and especially among the young people and, and it appears that the youth vote which is often called upon, but seldom materializes actually made a very significant difference in the mid terms and how democrats avoid losing a lot of seats. so biden is it, is it a tough position? because he has to make his israel supporting constituency happy, and that's not solely jewish. other lot of wasps and others who traditionally been very supportive israel, but he also has to to make the progressives in the party and the youth happy. and

they're right now next ya is presenting him with the scenario where it's very difficult or impossible to do both at the same time. and that's why i think sullivan and, and others have been trying to signal 2 to 10 year old to stop talking about these things in public. never enough time, global affairs analyst and university michigan, professor juan cole. thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with us today. no spring realist, you. so what's the bottom line is really, society has veered to the right. and even though there are many israelis who lament their current situation for now, the rejection is, are in power. and there doesn't seem to be a chance for a lasting resolution. at the same time, the palestinian leadership doesn't aspire much hope either. as mahmoud abbas remains empowering continues to delay or cancel fair elections. this month he began his 18th year as president in a term that should have ended in 2009. but history doesn't move in a straight line,

the extremism and dare i say, racism that has now become part of their prevailing leadership, of israel may in fact, finally trigger a political alternative that is long overdue in israel and a smarter, less corrupt generation on both sides that says enough is enough until then any u. s. president will probably wait it out. and that's sadly the bottom line. ah, i change the 1970s in the middle east and north africa in the 1st 2 bazzi algebra. well, talk some of the decades hibbitts with the 73 era this way. he boom piece talks military and only in the seventy's

in the arab world. politics on how to sierra. oh i oh no, i'm sorry i'm in a quick look at the main stories now. we've been following development out to vote . keep id through since the past hour or 2 it.