The only unifying theme of the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations was a desire to withdraw from the Middle East and focus on the Asia-Pacific rim. And yet for the fourth time in 22 years Islamist fighters have inflicted a strategic shock on the West: on the first occasion with 9/11; secondly, with the ISIS Caliphate; thirdly, with the Taliban’s capture of Kabul; and lastly with Hamas’s attack into southern Israel.
Two weeks ago, Israel still lived under the comfort blanket of its Iron Dome missile system, a country seduced by the false security of its very own Truman Show. Forced to focus on the security of West Bank settlements by the right of Netanyahu’s coalition, the Israeli Defence Force was made to strip troops away from Gaza and transfer them to the West Bank. After all, there was no intelligence to suggest anything untoward in Gaza: the US National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan himself had said that "the Middle East Region is quieter than it has been in two decades”.
