Israel’s airstrike on Qatar, a bid to assassinate Hamas leaders and peace negotiators, is sending diplomatic and political shockwaves across the region and around the world, not least because of open US complicity in the attack.

It shows that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has no interest in peace with the Palestinians in Gaza or elsewhere, and that he has determined to rely on military force alone in order to establish Israeli regional hegemony in the Middle East.

By targeting Qatar, an Arab state hosting the largest US base in the region, Israel has shown that no country is off limits as a target. Astonishingly, the US has shown that it has no red lines where Israeli military action is concerned, even when it is directed against a close American ally like Qatar.

At the White House, press secretary Karoline Leavitt made clear that while the bombing “does not advance Israel or America’s goals” and that Trump “feels very badly about the location of the attack”, eliminating Hamas remained “a worthy goal”. It is clear, however, that the US did not move to stop the attack.

The White House also confirmed that it knew about the attack in advance, which means that President Donald Trump is giving unprecedented US backing for the expanding Israeli........

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