Hamas has been planning to re-enact the Israeli holocaust for months if not years. In recent months, top leaders of the theocratic state of Iran have been speaking of outright support to the proxies in the Middle East committed to an anti-Israel agenda.
NBC News reported on October 8 that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi told a reporter, “We are against any bilateral relations between our regional countries and the Zionist regime. We believe that the Zionist regime intends to normalize bilateral relations with the regional countries to create security for itself in the region.”
What more proof is needed to foresee Iran’s reprehensible intentions? Though subversion cannot be ruled out, Mossad’s lapse will not be condoned.
With the ouster of the monarchy in 1979 and takeover by the Ayatollahs, Iran not only pandered to a Shia-dominated theocratic regime but also vowed to fulfill the Quranic injunction of decimating the Zionists and their state.
Besides opting for a solid military built-up, including naval and air power, Iran began injecting anti-Zionist venom into the mindset of its people, young and old, on a large scale. The Ayatollahs castigated Arab Islamists for forgetting the Quranic injunction of waging war against anything and everything that carried the label of Zionism.
Anti-US Stance
Owing to foreign and domestic political compulsions, the US’ outright support of Israel adversely impacted Iran’s relations with the US. Iran began to feel that the decimation of Israel could not become a reality as long as it received strong support from the US.
At the same time, the US wooed Saudi Arabia for the twin purpose of hassle-free access to Gulf oil and the containment of Iran by projecting Saudi Arabia as the prominent state in the region.
This was gall to Iran, which never relented in its jealousy of the Saudis. In one of his public speeches, late Ayatollah Khomeini had said that monarchy was forbidden in Islam and that all monarchs in Iran were usurpers.
Even the hajj pilgrims from Iran to the holy shrine of Mecca had launched insurgency within the premises of the sanctum sanctorum of Kaaba, which the Saudi government had to quell at any cost. Nearly 500 Iranian pilgrim volunteers turned insurgents were reportedly killed in a clash with the Saudi troops.
Iran’s Nuclear Ambition
But the worst spate of Iran’s confrontation with the US and its European allies was shaped only after the US learned that Iran was struggling to achieve nuclear capability. Iran had already established several nuclear centers and was engaged in producing enriched uranium.
The US and its allies decided not to allow Iran to become a nuclear power because that would seriously upset the balance of power in the Middle East, besides posing a serious threat to Saudi Arabia and Israeli-American interests in the region. Considering Iran’s nuclearization an existential threat, Israel made several attempts to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities at various places.
The JCPOA deal of July 14, 2015, gave some minor concessions to Iran against a commitment to not enriching uranium beyond a limit. However, President Trump opposed the deal as lop-sided when in power and withdrew from the JCPOA. President Biden’s nod to reopen discussion on the JCPOA and other signatories did not yield any positive result, and Iran felt free to manufacture weapons of mass destruction.
Involvement In Carnage
The theocratic Iran has established friendly relations with Russia, and lately, the entry of China into the Gulf region has given new directions to regional strategies. China recently brokered reconciliation between the two arch rivals in the Gulf region. It became possible because a vacuum had appeared in Saudi-US relations after the former declined to increase Aramco’s oil quantum.
However, at the New Delhi G20 summit, Indian Prime Minister Modi brought about a rapprochement between Saudi prince Mohammed bin Salman and President Biden. To mark the success of this development, the project of new land and sea connectivity between Mumbai in India and Europe via Saudi Arabia and Israel was simultaneously announced.
The strategy and comprehensiveness of the contemplated connectivity both served as a blow to China and Iran. It would reduce the significance of China’s B&R Initiative and diminish Iran’s commercial and strategic importance by further isolating it as a regional power.
Iran considered it a severe blow to her prestige as the new commercial route would further reduce her relevance. Since the new commercial route touched on the shores of Sicily and Greece, it rattled Turkey’s Erdogan, who has now joined the pro-Hamas camp.
The Hamas-led holocaust could not have happened without clearance by the Ayatollahs. Quoting an unnamed member of Hamas, the Wall Street Journal said that “Iran gave the go-ahead for the attack a week ago.”
The exciting thing is that while Iranian leaders celebrated and eulogized the attack, they quickly denied involvement. Denial is the patent antics of terrorists. They had followed it in the case of the Mumbai and Pulwama attacks.
Ghazi Hamad, a Hamas spokesman, told the BBC that the group had direct backing for the attack from Iran, which pledged to “stand by the Palestinian fighters until the liberation of Palestine and Jerusalem.”
This is the rhetoric that all pro-Palestine Islamic countries have orchestrated while reflecting on the carnage of October 7. It has to be noted that while the Hamas attack was in progress, and Israelis were butchered, these Islamic countries remained tight-lipped and uttered not a single word.
But as soon as IDF began massive retaliation, they all began beating their breast and raising their voice to cease the hostilities and save innocent lives.
In a commentary, BBC said that Tehran has been one of Hamas’ main sponsors for many years, providing it with financial assistance and vast quantities of weaponry, including rockets. Iran did not give the weaponry for Palestinian kids to play with.
These are supplied to Hamas for re-enacting the holocaust. We know Israel has been trying to disrupt Iran’s supply routes to Gaza, involving Sudan and Yemen ships in the Red Sea and Bedouin smugglers in the lawless Sinai Peninsula.
“I would say that it’s not too much to assume that Iran is involved,” Haim Tomer, a former senior officer with Mossad, told the BBC. He added, “This is the response of Iran to reports that a peace treaty is going to happen between Israel and Saudi Arabia.”
Elucidating the role of Iran in the re-enacted holocaust, Tomar said, “We have seen people like Saleh al-Arouri (head of the organization’s military wing) and other Hamas leaders flying back and forth between Lebanon and Iran, holding meetings including with (Supreme leader Ayatollah) Khamenei himself.”
According to the Wall Street Journal, Iran gave the green light for the attack at a meeting in Beirut last Monday. Unnamed Haas and Hezbollah sources told the WSJ that officers from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had worked alongside Hamas since August to put together Sunday’s complex air, land, and sea operation.
US’ Antics
Apart from condemnation of the attack and tall promise of support to Israel, President Biden has nothing substantial to offer to Israel. Moving the warship Gerald Ford into waters close to Israel makes no real sense.
The US deployed its warships in the Bay of Bengal in the Bangladesh war. It made no impact, which is true in Israel’s case as well.
Foreign Secretary Binken says the US has no proof to show that Iran is involved. Giving proof of his largesse, President Biden ordered the release of six billion dollars to Iran out of the Iranian money seized by the US after imposing sanctions.
As a true friend and ardent human rights supporter, the US should have taken action and razed Hamas to rubble within 12 hours of the attack. The US has to realize that it was not Hamas attacking Israel; it was Iran attacking and paralyzing the US.
- KN Pandita (Padma Shri) is the former director of the Center of Central Asian Studies at Kashmir University. Views Personal.
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