The CSM has a relatively balanced piece on Israel’s targeting both sides of Hamas.
Israel’s message to Hamas and to regional supporters in countries such as Syria is that it will not accept Hamas’s claim that political figures – in Gaza or abroad – act separately from the military wing. Mr. Meshaal has vowed that Hamas would continue to fight Israel, despite more moderate statements coming from Palestinian leaders elected in January.
“It is a mirage to think that internal and external leadership of Hamas fundamentally represent some cataclysmic rift,” says Hamas expert Magnus Ranstorp, an analyst at the Swedish National Defense College.
“Yes, there are differences, but the movement is much larger than individual representatives. They play the inside-outside card very carefully, and they divorced the military wing from the rest, so they could say [militant activities] ‘are outside our control.’ But the inside-outside leadership is much closer than what [it] appears,” he says.
It’s a remarkably sensible piece, for the most part, though it devolves into the usual “settler” language towards the end, and focuses on how Operation Summer Rain is actually bringing the warring factions together. (That’s okay, as soon as the IDF is gone they’ll go back to gunning for each other.) But I’d give it a RIF reading. (Read in full)