Moderator Viola Gienger, Washington-based freelance reporter covering U.S. foreign and defense policy, formerly Pentagon and State Department correspondent for Bloomberg News, Tom DeFrank, Washington Bureau Chief of the New York Daily News and Olivier Knox, White House correspondent for Yahoo! News discuss the outbreak of violence between the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and Israel, Cairo’s sympathy for Hamas and Washington’s defense of Israel, Syria’s new opposition alliance, the assertive posture struck by President Obama at his post-election press conference, prospects for breaking political gridlock and the scandal that forced General David Petraeus to resign as Director of the CIA.