The Daily Beast reports: The political climate in Israel is so ugly that at least one member of Knesset is comparing Palestinian children to “little snakes” – and announcing that she’s ready to declare war on the entire Palestinian population.

Ayelet Shaked – a Knesset member of the religious nationalist Jewish Home party — took to Facebook with inflammatory remarks about the Palestinians on July 1, the day before the brutal murder of 17-year-old Palestinian Mohammed Abu Khudair.

“This is a war,” wrote Shaked, who has been routinely denounced in the Israeli press as an extremist. “Words have meanings. This is a war. It is not a war against terror, and not a war against extremists, and not even a war against the Palestinian Authority. These too are forms of avoiding reality. This is a war between two people. Who is the enemy? The Palestinian people. Why? Ask them, they started.”

The following day, Khudair was kidnapped in Jerusalem and later burned alive. Six Israeli suspects were arrested on Sunday in connection to the murder, which set off a slew of protests throughout the region. [Continue reading…]