Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

Yoni Ben Menachem

Yoni Ben Menachem, a veteran Arab affairs and diplomatic commentator for Israel Radio and Television, is a senior Middle East analyst for the Jerusalem Center. He served as director general and chief editor of the Israel Broadcasting Authority.

In the past two weeks, Hamas has created a new unit called “The Night-Time Deployment Unit.”
It’s no coincidence that Abdullah is keeping away from the idea of a confederation like poison; he wants to keep Jordan’s borders as they are and fears that if the idea is implemented, the Palestinians will take his country and depose the Hashemite royal house.
The Palestinians and the Arab states are showing political weakness. Now is the time to establish new facts on the ground.
Two main lessons emerge: Israel should keep promoting the Israeli narrative in the social networks, and the political echelon must give the “hasbara” apparatus the resources it needs.
Jihadist Islamic terror is again rearing its head in Jordan, and this time it is aimed at the Jordanian security establishment.
Sources in the Palestinian Authority claim that the Trump administration is trying to use the Gaza Strip as the “key” to the hearts of Arab leaders, so that they will accept its Middle East peace “deal of the century.”
Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas does not trust Hamas, and is concerned that its true intention is to bring down his rule in the West Bank and take control of it, as it did in Gaza in 2007.
Unprecedented protests are going on in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, caused by the current dire economic situation, with fears that a public intifada could break out.
Hamas has made a strategic resolution to escalate the situation in the Gaza Strip in a controlled manner until the embargo is removed.
Even if Mahmoud Abbas recovers and leaves the hospital, it is clear that he is living on borrowed time, and he can’t lead the Palestinian administration for too much longer.
The Arab countries do not intend to do anything to help Hamas to make its campaign a success. The P.A. hopes that Hamas will fail and not achieve anything against Israel.
Even though it’s not clear to the Gazan public which projects engineer Dr. Fadi al-Batsch was involved in, the mood in Gaza indicates that his assassination has affected the Hamas military wing’s operations and morale.