of interests between Israel and Sunni Arab states, it will pivot around their shared hostility towards Iran, Hezbollah and the Shiite crescent, including the Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq and the Houthis in Yemen.

There are two further things to note. Halevi plays down the jihadist threat, saying, as the Jewish Chronicle reports, only that "Israel would have to 'grapple with' the jihadi threat in the medium term" (emphasis mine again). Relegating the threat to more of a domestic issue than a strategic danger, Halevi expressed little concern for the strategic consequences of a string of jihadi successes rippling across the Middle East.

The strategic threat, then, is not ISIS or al Qaeda. It's pretty clear that, as Halevi confirmed, Hezbollah is now Israel's key strategic challenge. For Israel, Hezbollahmust be incapacitated or destroyed; war becomes inexorable by implication.

Hezbollah fighters swear allegiance during a ceremony marking the death of their commander, Mustafa Badreddine, on May 20. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

The question is whether Israel has concluded that now -- with America engrossed in its presidential election -- is the moment to launch the war. Was this the reason for Avigdor Lieberman's recent appointment as defense minister? Is he the hawk to lead the job? Hezbollah's recall of its elite forces from Syria and its secretary general's warning that the movement faces a difficult and dangerous summer seems to suggest that Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah chief, has concluded that the risk of an imminent strike is real.

According to sources who spoke with the regional correspondent Elijah Magnier, "Nasrallah was