And if it did demonstrate that, on this occasion at any rate, Israel refrained from killing, in order to avoid a massacre, isn't that a good thing? A non-violent action provoking the other side not to carry out a violent attack. In fact a win-win situation for everyone.

Contrast that with the horrible business a couple of hours later reported in that Haaretz story I linked to, where four children were among those injured and an old man killed, in an assassination attack by Israel. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that the aim of this kind of thing is to provoke a Palestinian reprisal, which will justify further similar killings.

And that would also be the aim of the Palestinian reprisal. There's a kind of partnership involved between the killers on both sides. They need each other.