Gaza, Obama, and Testing the Arab Spring
It would be silly to see it as a response to the launching of rockets from Gaza at Israel by Palestinian groups other than Hamas. Israeli responses have gradually forced Hamas to enter the confrontation after the Islamist movement, along with the Egyptian leadership, had reached a truce with Israel, which was broken by the assassination of the deputy head of the Izzeddine al-Qassam military wing, Ahmad Jaabari.
If the news is true that Jaabari was about to endorse the truce, this affirms beyond a shadow of a doubt that the objective of the open war launched by Benjamin Netanyahu, through murder and bombing, is not merely a response to Palestinian rockets.
Israel’s reason for escalation over the past two days goes beyond Netanyahu’s electoral considerations, three months before early polls that he hopes to win under the slogan of guaranteeing the security of Israelis, which is a priority for them.
Amid the complex and intertwined regional conditions, there are several functions for the Israeli escalation, among which are: