Foundation for Defense of Democracies asks...

ARAB SPRING? John Hannah – former senior advisor to Vice President Cheney, now FDD Senior Fellow – writes:

One hopes that the Obama administration is connecting the dots in response to the sudden escalation of violence against Israel. Big Iranian weapons shipments seized off the coast of Gaza; an Israeli family of five slaughtered in their beds; a barrage of more than 90 rockets fired at Israeli population centers over the past few days. And yesterday’s horrific terrorist attack at a bus station in Jerusalem. These are not isolated events. Nor are they outbursts of random violence by otherwise peace-loving Palestinians driven to despair by a stalemated peace process.

On the contrary, these outrages are better understood as part of a strategic campaign by hardened terrorist groups, closely tied to Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah, to divert attention from the popular uprisings that have targeted tyrannical governments across the Middle East. While feigning confidence in the face of Jasmine revolutions that have toppled pro-American autocrats, Iran’s mullahs know full well that the bell tolls for them, as the contagion of popular uprising now at work across Muslim lands threatens to reignite the Green Movement that in 2009 shook the Islamic Republic to its core. …

But relying on the political maturity and sophistication of angry young Arab protesters will likely not be enough. American leadership and a strong U.S.-Israeli alliance are also essential. The Obama administration should, of course, be loudly condemning the Palestinian attacks. But it should also be working tirelessly to condition world public opinion and the international media to the pattern, context, and aims of this terrorist campaign, especially as it relates to the sabotaging of the Arab Spring. The Syrian regime, in particular, should be put on notice privately that we’re wise to its efforts to use Palestinian surrogates to create a diversion, at the same time that we turn up the heat publicly on the atrocities being committed by Assad’s forces in Daraa. Such a public diplomacy campaign will also help establish the legitimacy and necessity of Israel’s inevitable effort to defend itself, preserve its deterrent, and degrade Palestinian terrorist capabilities.

More here: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/262998/understanding-violence-israel-john-hannah