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Hamas just torched Biden’s deal to remake the Middle East
Tentative efforts towards a Saudi-Israel rapprochement have been blown up by the militant group’s attack on Israel.
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A firefighter working to extinguish flames after a rocket attack on Ashkelon, Israel, by Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip on Oct 7.
PHOTO: REUTERS
It turns out that Hamas had a veto in the diplomacy and grand strategy of the United States, Saudi Arabia and Israel. Those three countries have been – somewhat quietly, and at the urging of the White House – inching towards a three-way deal that could reshape geopolitics in the region and beyond.
But their arrangement would have left the Palestinians out in the cold. So Hamas, the most militant group representing Palestinians, decided to blow the whole thing up. In the most literal sense.


