Kirby responded to Arikat’s effort to turn a brutal terrorist murder of a 19-year-old Israeli girl doing her job – to protect Israeli citizens – into a justified response to the “Occupation.” Kirby said, through ever-so-slightly tightened lips:
let me tell you what is not the way to do it, okay? The way to not do it is through attacks like today. The way to not do it is to incite those attacks with rhetoric that inflames these tensions. The way to do it – the way to move forward here – is through peaceful dialogue and conversation, and to take affirmative steps in both word and in action to walk people away from this kind of violence. That’s the way to do this.
Finally, the State Dept. offered a full-throated denunciation of murderous terrorism by Palestinian Arabs, incited by the Palestinian Arab leadership, and which is not ever justified by any claims made against the Israelis.
UPDATE: The original version of this article stated there are no Israeli border police on the Temple Mount. That statement has been deleted, as it is not correct. H/T YM