From Dr. Frank Umbach's point of view, Israel's military strikes came as quite unexpected. The air strikes against Hamas representatives who had traveled to Qatar for negotiations were a response to previous terrorist attacks by Hamas against Israel and also to the increasing criticism from the international community of Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip. Dr. Umbach assessed Israel's actions in Qatar as a deliberate “escalation” that would make it more difficult to continue negotiations between Israel and Hamas and secure the release of the remaining Israeli hostages. At the end of the discussion, Dr. Umbach noted that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was attempting to divert attention from domestic political problems through such military actions. The latter include Netanyahu's involvement in corruption, ongoing protests by the population against the government's political course, and disagreements within Netanyahu's government.
Dr. Frank Umbach analyzes at Phoenix the Israeli air strikes against leaders of Hamas in Qatar Dr. Frank Umbach analyzes at Phoenix the Israeli air strikes against leaders of Hamas in Qatar
On September 9th, security expert and CASSIS Fellow Dr. Frank Umbach examined the implications of Israeli airstrikes on Hamas leaders in the Qatar's capital city Doha.
Dr. Frank Umbach during his interview given to the program Phoenix der Tag on September 9th.
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Dr. Frank Umbach is Head of Research of the European Cluster for Climate, Energy and Resource Security (EUCERS) at the Center for Advanced Security, Strategic and Integration Studies (CASSIS)