© Hadi Dbouk
Notwithstanding the Biden Op-Ed, the Biden Administration may prove vulnerable to pressure, as the Democratic electoral prospects for 2024 take a hit.
US and Israeli intelligence had earlier expressed their settled certainty that Hamas leaders and their command HQ were to be found under Al-Shifa hospital. It was widely believed that, with the hospital surrounded, the world was about to witness the collective Hamas leadership arise from the dark depths of their hospital bunkers with their hands up, only to be led away, ignominiously, as captives.
That was the script. Only it didn't pan out. Rather, the Israeli inept public relations efforts - that are still continuing - to prove the validity of Israeli Intelligence's claim of there having been a Hamas HQ under the hospital have been roundly ridiculed around the globe.
What has followed however, is the grave sequella of Palestinian hospitals generally being either surrounded or attacked, thus lending credence for many to the notion that the original intelligence claim has become the pretext to the wider destruction of the Strip's humanitarian infrastructure - so as to
sear the Palestinian consciousness with the conviction that with homes, schools and hospitals destroyed, how could they return? There would be nothing there to support social existence.
I recall a similar episode during the 2006 war on Hizbullah. The Israelis were convinced they knew the precise location in Dahiya in Beirut where the Hizbullah Command was hidden;
they bombed it flat.
Only Hizbullah -- like Hamas today -- wasn't there. I wrote in 2006 a two-part analysis, which described how Hizbullah in 2006 had won the intelligence 'war', and had fed false human intelligence to Tel Aviv. Perhaps Hamas may have learnt a thing or two...
Comment: So it looks as though the build up towards forcing Kiev to admit defeat, that was evident in the Western press for the last few months, is coming to fruition. Although, as highlighted in the tweet below; Russia's SMO still has a few objectives yet to achieve, and it's unlikely that the Kiev-junta will have much bargaining power: