BEACHWOOD, Ohio — As the Israel-Hamas war wages on, internationally renowned U.S. Middle East analyst Aaron David Miller shared his expertise in a webinar Wednesday night.
The Maltz Museum hosted the discussion between Miller and Case Western Reserve University professor and global security affairs expert Avidan Cover.
"The more Palestinians who are killed or injured, the more the anger on the Arab street rises up," Miller said.
Miller, a Shaker Heights native, is a former State Department historian, analyst, negotiator, and advisor. He helped formulate U.S. policy on the Middle East for more than 20 years, as well as the Arab-Israel peace process.
"If you ask me for a motive of the Hamas attack, certainly not to defeat Israel," Miller said. "It's to radicalize and to create as much distraction and tension in the Arab world, creating a sense that the Israelis are responsible for thousands of Palestinian deaths, which is a very useful tool in their propaganda kit."
According to Miller, the Palestinian Health Ministry is controlled by Hamas and is inflating casualty numbers following the deadly explosion at a Gaza hospital Tuesday. He predicted that the destruction of Palestinian homes, businesses, and social services will be extraordinary, as concerns grow over relief efforts to those in Gaza.
"We already have a humanitarian catastrophe, seems to me, in southern Gaza," he lamented, "and the Israeli ground campaign hasn't even begun."
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