The significance of the bombing of the Qatari capital Doha by Israel is less to do with Hamas and Gaza and more about establishing military hegemony of a US-backed Israel over the Middle East as a whole.

By sending 15 fighter-bombers to kill Hamas leaders in Doha, Israel has shown that even those states closely allied to the US in the Middle East are not safe from Israeli attack.

The claim by Donald Trump that the US knew about the impending Israeli bombing raid too late to stop it is not being taken seriously in the region. The Israeli press says that the White House greenlit the operation, and US-manned air defences in Qatar – where America has 10,000 soldiers at al-Udeid, its biggest base in the Middle East – were reportedly switched off during the attack.

The leaders of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Jordan are among those gathering in Doha for a meeting to show solidarity with Qatar. They will be feeling deeply insecure, because one of oldest red lines in Middle East politics – that conservative Gulf monarchies allied to the US were safe from Israeli attack – has been brutally disregarded. Trump, whatever he may claim in public, will........

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