What Led To The Hamas Attack On Israel -- And What Now?

The crisis in Israel and Gaza--and Southern Lebanon and the West Bank --  is unfolding rapidly. Following the Hamas attacks on Saturday, Netanyahu promised to “return fire of a magnitude that the enemy has not known.” Israel has already launched heavy airstrikes on Gaza and seems to be readying a ground invasion. Meanwhile, unrest in the West Bank has resulted in 11 Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers, and in Southern Lebanon Hezbollah has been trading rocket fire with Israel. Joining me to discuss this crisis is Daniel Levy, who is head of the U.S. Middle East Project and is a former peace negotiator under the governments of Israeli Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin and Ehud Barak. We kick off discussing why the Hamas attack happened when it did, the strategic logic underpinning Hamas' actions, Israel's likely response, the implications of this episode for Israeli domestic politics, and the prospect that this might devolve into a wider regional conflict.  Newsletter at GlobalDispatches.org Premium podcast episodes.