Hamas Isolated, Exposed To Israel Post-Morsi
Hamas fears Israel may take advantage of its newfound isolation.
Hamas enjoyed a short honeymoon with now-ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi. But since the army generals removed him from power and put someone else in his place, Hamas has been in mourning. Morsi’s ouster was a serious political and ideological blow for the organization.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s downfall also frees Israel’s hands in isolating Hamas and potentially dealing it a painful military blow, something which Israel did not complete in the recent November 2012 war. In that conflict, Israel feared severely damaging its relations with the Brotherhood leadership in Egypt if it continued its military operation against Gaza.
Israeli accusations
During the latest war, Avigdor Liberman — leader of Yisrael Beiteinu, chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee in the Israeli Knesset and a major partner in the coalition government — called on Israel to reoccupy the Gaza Strip without delay.
