WELL, YES: Hamas is just a proxy for Iran and radical Islamists. “Sure, there are Palestinians who just want a peaceful resolution to the conflict, but they have no power. If you want to understand what is going on you have to understand that for decades various factions of Palestinians have been little more than expendable proxies for powers who are only nominally interested in the fate of actual Palestinians. Billions of dollars are funneled into the West Bank and Gaza Strip by competing powers, and the people to whom those dollars are funneled aren’t answerable to the citizens whom they claim to represent. If the Israeli/Palestinian conflict were resolved, those powers would lose tremendous power and influence not just in the immediate region, but throughout the Middle East and the world.”

Related: Tamara Keel: “Lastly, a longtime buddy of both Iran and Hamas is Russia, who’ll benefit from the world’s media focusing someplace other than Kyiv for the first time in a while. It wouldn’t shock me if Vlad’s troops tried something heinous during the period of distraction.”