Israel’s Secret Allies

I’ve blogged that Pakistan is the most dangerous nation on earth – an unstable political mess, Muslim radicals in charge of large sections of the country with the conspiracy and support of the government’s own intelligence service and having lots of nuclear weapons with the missiles to deliver the punch. But one other country, one that received plans for complex processing equipment to create weapons-grade nuclear plutonium from Pakistan, is currently funding and supplying anti-Israeli weapons to militant factions in Lebanon (Hezbollah) as well as the Hamas fighters in Gaza: Iran. In short, Iran’s vitriol has become a proxy war against the existing Middle Eastern establishment through the support of radical Islam.

As Hezbollah did earlier from Lebanon (2006), Hamas continues to launch rockets into southern Israel – over 400 to date, into lands that represent 1/8 of Israel’s territory. Hezbollah shares Iran’s commitment to the Shiite interpretation of the Qu’ran (a mystical book that can only be interpreted by religious scholar/leaders), while surprisingly, Hamas is pure Sunni (who believe that the Qu’ran should be read literally and by everybody). This latter point is particularly significant, since extreme Sunni nations, like Saudi Arabia, have committed billions of dollars to fund fundamental Sunnis (who are profoundly anti-Shiite, and hence clear enemies of Iran) to “contain” Iran’s Shiite Islamic Republic. Saudi money has supported Sunni radicals in Afghanistan (the Taliban), which borders Iran, as well as general enemies of the Iranian theocracy (including Saddam Hussein’s war against Iran years ago). They despise the Shiite interpretation of the faith and consider Iran to be dangerous and heretical menace that must be contained.

Iran’s leadership has taken the “push Israel into the sea” mantra to destabilize the region, fomenting radicalism and growing new allies. Hamas has strong ties to an Egyptian radical movement – the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood – that seeks to topple the government of President Hosni Mubarak. Jordan likewise has comparable radical movements that seek to topple that monarchy, and the Saudi and Kuwaiti royals face similar fears.

In short, Iran has used and is using the battlegrounds around Israel (Hezbollah in the north, and Hamas in the south and potentially the West Bank in the east) to strengthen Muslim radicals that could also be used to destabilize Iran’s Sunni neighbors and near neighbors. Iran’s willingness to embrace Sunni radicals, once their sworn enemies, shows that the current efforts are far more political than any quest to spread the Shiite faith. Iran’s central geographical position in the Middle East commands even more attention. Even though Sunnis represent 85% of Islam, Iran’s tactics could easily result in her having disproportionate power in the Middle East, something that terrifies most of the surrounding region (except Syria, which walks a treacherous line but leans toward Iran).

No wonder then that Egypt is tightly controlling the border with Gaza and calling for Middle Eastern nations to stop using the United Nations as the sounding board for anti-Israeli rhetoric. No wonder the Arab League, which met to consider the current conflict in Gaza, is so sharply divided on the subject of lending support to the Hamas militants.

According to the January 5^th New York Times, as its forces crashed through Gaza, the Israeli army was dropping leaflets saying: “Hamas is getting a taste of the power of the Israeli military after more than a week and we have other methods that are still harsher to deal with Hamas. They will prove very painful. For your safety, please evacuate your neighborhood.” Many civilians, however, had no place left to go. Hamas remained defiant. From the January 6^th USA Today: "‘The Palestinian resistance will not forget and will not forgive,’ said Hamas lawmaker Mushir Masri. ‘The resistance's response will be very painful.’"

As we study a conflict that has no clear solutions, it is essential to understand who benefits and who is hurt by the current firestorm in Gaza. Things are not always what they seem, and in the Middle East, simplicity died a long time ago. Brutality, however, still abounds.

I’m Peter Dekom, and I thought that you might want to know.