The Hamas members who abducted the three Israeli teens could have foreseen how Israel would respond. You do not have to be some military correspondent in the know to assume that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would place the West Bank under closure, arrest dozens of suspects and, at the same time, “eliminate” a few wanted men. The kidnappers would have been safe in assuming that the house-to-house searches would increase the civilian population’s hostility toward Israel. Whatever shaky faith in the peace process still exists will have suffered another blow.

Nor did the kidnappers need the services of political pundits with diplomas to anticipate that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would cast the blame on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who signed a reconciliation agreement with the very organization whose members were responsible for the abduction. It should be obvious that presenting the Palestinian leader as a partner to the crime would hardly improve his status as a reliable partner in achieving a two-state solution. 

It could even be safe to assume that the kidnapper’s objective was to neutralize ''the risk'' that the new Palestinian reconciliation government would breathe life into the diplomatic process. Past experience shows that a “high-end terrorist attack,” meaning a terrorist attack that causes considerable commotion in the media, harms any chance for compromise and reconciliation between the two parties. There is no surer recipe to foil any arrangement that would force the Palestinians to make do with the 1967 borders, minus a few border adjustments, or to give up the right of return.

And what is Netanyahu doing? That’s right. The prime minister is following the kidnappers’ instructions to the letter. He has ordered the army to impose a closure on the territories, raid the city of Hebron and arrest anybody they can get their hands on. Netanyahu is attacking Abbas from every possible podium. He is using the opportunity to incite public opinion in Israel and score points in the international arena. What American politician would dare to accuse him now of causing Secretary of State John Kerry’s initiative to fail, especially now? What European leader would have the courage today to condemn the government’s settlement policy? What left-wing Zionist would have the temerity to point to any connection whatsoever between terrorist activities committed by the settlers, which go under the name of “price tag,” the light-handed response of some Israeli troops and the kidnapping of the settlers?