Hamas resorts to same old playbook, but will Israel now reset rules? The terror group that runs Gaza “created a new equation by bringing the issue of Jerusalem and the holy sites into the public discussion and showing itself to be their defender,” said Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies. People hold Hamas flags as Palestinians gather after performing the last Friday of Ramadan to protest over the possible eviction of several Palestinian families from homes on land claimed by Jewish settlers in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, May 7, 2021. Photo by Jamal Awad/Flash90