Analysts in Washington say that the Biden administration may have indirectly triggered the ire of Hamas that led to the lightning attack on Israel. It came at a time when Biden was working overtime to bring Saudi Arabia and Israel closer in order to keep the Russians and Chinese at bay. This angered Iran and the Hamas as any support to Saudi Arabia would have upset the Shia-Sunni struggle for religious hegemony in the region.
The Saudi kingdom practices a puritanical brand of Sunni Islam known as Wahhabism that is antagonistic to Shia Islam practiced in Iran and by the Hamas. In fact, experts say that the attack on Israel was planned and signed off by Irans deadly Revolutionary Guards for Hamas.
The day of attack is not a coincidence
And October 6, the day the attack was carried out, is significant for Hamas. It was Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism, and marked the 50th anniversary of the war that was launched by a coalition of Arab nations on Israeli-occupied territories which saw nearly 20,000 deaths. Israel emerged victorious with more land under its belt than it had before the start of the 1973 war.
Hamas officials attribute the recent violence to long-standing tensions between Israel and Palestinians, particularly the dispute over the sacred Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. The site is revered by both Muslims and Jews, and has a long history of violence, including the bloody 11-day war between Israel and Hamas in 2021.
Meanwhile, the attack could narrow down the chances for Biden to negotiate a new alignment in the region by normalizing relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. For months, the Biden administration has been pursuing an ambitious diplomatic project to design a new Middle East for a new era.
But the old Middle East, it turns out, still has something to say about it, said observers who described the attack as equal to the 9/11 moment. "The stunning Hamas assault served as a gut-wrenching reminder that the decadesold conflict with Palestinians remains a cancer that has not gone away even as leaders in Washington, Jerusalem, Riyadh and other Arab capitals would prefer to focus on building a revamped region," CNN said in a comment.
