Iran has admitted that it is funding Hamas and Hizbullah (as if there were any doubt):
Ali Larijani, the chairman of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, denied in an interview with Newsweek that Iran was providing arms to the Hamas. He admitted, however, that his country was funneling finances to the Islamic group, as well as to Hizbullah.
“We do support Hizbullah and Hamas, that is right,” Larijani said. “But these two are not terrorist groups. These are the two groups that are defending their own land.” — Jerusalem Post
The soon-to-be-nuclear Iran is a potent force in the Mideast, one of the two oil superpowers (the other is Saudi Arabia). Both have large military establishments. These superpowers, Shiite and Sunni respectively, vying for control of the region, agree on almost nothing except of course the proposition that Israel should be replaced by an Arab state.
Their anti-Israel work is performed by non-state proxies, such as Hamas and Hizbullah, as well as the still-immoderate Fatah, by allies such as Syria, and by diplomatic and propaganda activities throughout the world. In the name of Islam, both countries have contributed to the establishment of mosques and other institutions in many nations, all of which incidentally promote the view that Israel is the devil. They also apply pressure to their various trading partners, particularly in Europe where most of their oil is sold, to adopt anti-Israel postures. And of course they finance the constant din of accusations and lies about Israel that reaches every spot on the globe, 24/7.
This is particularly effective with the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims, since it is often couched in religious terms, but also seems to be doing quite well in such places as the UK and Scandinavia.
The combined might of Arab armed forces that could be marshaled against Israel in a regional war runs into the millions, compared to Israel’s tiny standing army of 168,000 plus a few hundred thousand available as reserve soldiers for a limited time.
So the next time it’s suggested that Israel’s activities vs. Hamas and Hizbullah represent a mighty Goliath crushing a bunch of little Davids, remember this:
The terrorist militias are only the point of the spear.
Technorati Tags: Israel, Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria
The ‘point of the spear’ has been considerably sharpened with the complete takeover of Gaza by Hamas. Our relative lack of response to this indicates to my mind that the present Government is interested more in short term political maneuvers than in improving our long- term defense – situation. It is too early to see if Ehud Barak’s entrance into the Defense Minister’s office will change this.
The ‘local threats’ of Hamas and Hizbollah combined with the far greater threats of Syrian and Iranian missiles are bad enough, but not the whole of the story. We rely very much now on the stability of the regimes in Jordan and Egypt, but their potential subversion is very real.
We need to begin ‘reducing the threats’ and not enabling them to multiply.