Ethnic cleansing was perpetrated by Arabs

Zoe Lawlor (Letters, October 22) laments the lack of “context” in media coverage of the wave of stabbings and shootings of Israeli Jews by Palestinian Arab assailants.

Here is some context. In 1920, Arabs in Jerusalem were incited to violence by stories, circulated on the orders of the Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini, that the Jews were about to attack and destroy the Al Aqsa mosque.

The rumours were the same as those of recent months this year, and had just as little foundation in fact. But Jews praying at the Western Wall were attacked with knives and axes; five were killed and 216 injured.