Hamas and Israel's conduct during the latest round of fighting exposes their overlapping interests, not just in weakening Palestinian Islamic Jihad but also in laying the groundwork for a long-term ceasefire in exchange for significantly easing the Gaza blockade.
While officials insist killing of top Islamic Jihad official was a “one-off” operation, it also demonstrates to Hamas that Israel is still perfectly capable of obtaining detailed intelligence and carrying out surgical strikes.
With the clock running out on the coalition negotiations, party leaders realize their options are becoming increasingly limited.
Iran's operations in the Middle East have been growing more brazen and it falls to Israel to keep it at bay. Otherwise, Israel will soon discover that the region is changing, and not in its favor.
With Justin Trudeau re-elected prime minister of Canada, the fight against anti-Semitism and BDS is expected to continue, as the country looks inward to more pressing domestic issues.
Founder and former head of the Homa Directorate in the Defense Ministry Dr. Uzi Rubin says Israel must take into account that what goes up, must come down – sometimes, over the border.
The defense establishment is focusing its readiness on the northern front, where Iran and Hezbollah are looking to build new attack capabilities, but if PIJ remains determined to rock the boat, it could collapse into yet another Gaza war.
And if the Islamic Republic does attack, there will have to be a massive retaliation against its interests by the Jewish state, ideally with reassurances of backup from the United States.
Military assessments clearly show that future skirmishes between Israel and Iran will grow more volatile. But Israel will have to deal with Gaza eventually and when it does, it would do well to remember that a considered response is always better than a knee jerk reaction.
Tehran is stepping up its efforts to challenge Israel and Iran's enemies in the Persian Gulf by introducing new weapons, tactics and strategies. Warding off threats of this nature requires sending a message to Iran that Israel must be able to back with actions.
