The region is bracing for escalating confrontation after a series of Israeli assassinations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be considered the “Middle East’s chief arsonist,” says American journalist Jeremy Scahill.
Scahill told host Steve Clemons that Netanyahu “smells blood right now because (U.S. President) Joe Biden is a lame duck president.” That allows Israel to take greater action against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip and also draw the U.S. into a confrontation with Iran, Scahill said.
He spoke after Israel claimed responsibility last week for the killings of Fuad Shukr, the military chief of Hezbollah, in Beirut, and Mohammed Deif, the commander of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza. Hamas’ political chief Ismail Haniyeh, the chief negotiator in Gaza ceasefire talks, was also assassinated in Tehran. Israel is suspected of responsibility for the assassination but has not claimed responsibility.