Palestinians' recent attacks on Israelis are, at first blush, not an existential threat to Israel. Horrific as the losses are, the future of the state is not in question.
Or so it seems. But in a closer look, it appears that this round of violence is costing Israel more than the human toll. As the Palestinians clearly intend, the renewed conflict is doing serious damage to Israel's international standing.
One of the first indications of this swing in public opinion was a comment by Sweden's foreign minister, Margot Wallstrom, who laid part of the blame for November's terrorist attacks in Paris on Israel. "To counteract the radicalization we must go back to the situation such as the one in the Middle East of which not the least the Palestinians see that there is no future: We must either accept a desperate situation or resort to violence," she said on Swedish TV.