It is unclear whether and how much the United States knew about Israel’s airstrike against Hamas negotiators in the Qatari capital of Doha. But there can no longer be any doubt that Israel has assumed carte blanche.
After decades of enjoying impunity for its violations of international law and norms, it no longer even hesitates to do whatever it wants. Aside from the individual victims, the main casualty of Israel’s escalation is U.S. credibility.
Israel — the beneficiary of billions of dollars’ worth of annual U.S. aid — openly celebrated the strike. Even Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s archrival, opposition leader Yair Lapid, publicly congratulated the “Air Force, The Israeli Defense Force, Shin Bet and all security forces on an exceptional operation to thwart our enemies.”
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