International media and political leaders have attempted to explain an the January 27 attack in the Israeli settlement of Neve Yaakov that killed seven Israeli settlers as a religiously-motivated crime because it took place on the eve of Shabbat in an area adjacent to a synagogue. But these same accounts ignore the fact that Neve Yaakov is also home to the Israeli military’s central command center for the occupation of the West Bank, and the settlement has been central to cementing Israeli control over occupied Jerusalem.

When an attack like Khairy Alqam’s in Neve Yaakov occurs, you must understand that this violence does not occur in a vacuum.

Here is the context behind the attack in Neve Yaakov.

Steve Inskeep of NPR today described Neve Yaakov, the scene of an attack last week, as being in Israel. While Jeremy Ben-Ami of J Street called it a Jerusalem “neighborhood.” It is in fact an exclusively Jewish settlement in occupied Jerusalem, built on confiscated Palestinian lands, and a source of affliction for Palestinians.

On Thursday, Israeli forces invaded Jenin refugee camp and killed nine Palestinians in what residents of the camp called “a massacre.” On Friday, Palestinians responded with protest and resistance that culminated in armed resistance operations being carried out across the West Bank, including in the Israeli settlement of Neve Yaakov in occupied East Jerusalem, where at least seven Israelis were killed.