An extraordinary image from the AFP of the contest in Israel.
I listened to some Israelis discussing this, including a general officer and a political advisor. The political advisor thinks this is about a dispute over apartments; the general thinks it is really a power struggle between Hamas and Fatah, in which Hamas is trying to establish leadership by showing itself to be the stronger and more virile party.
I do not think that either of them is right about what is happening here. There are more titanic powers afoot.
8 comments:
It was easy to predict that Iran would strike back.
Iran is definitely a big part of this equation, and so too is the fact that the Biden administration has turned loose money to both the Palestinian Authority and agreed to pay ransoms for Americans held by Iran. Islamic Jihad is deploying Badr 3 rockets that are Iranian-made 500-pound bombs with boosters; Hamas is deploying drones that are flying suicide bombs.
Those rockets didn't all get there in the last few weeks, either. Iran's success in building smuggling networks across Iraq and Syria in the last few years has been noteworthy. Killing ISIS was an accomplishment in one way, but it opened the road for this as well.
It seems to me that both the politician and the general are correct, but they're missing the idea that their perspectives are of a tool being used by outside forces.
The confluence of a re-funded Iran and a re-funded Hamas, together with a timid Biden administration begging to be allowed back into Iran's nuclear weapons acquisition program and suppression of the Saudis' attempt to resist Iran's war-by-Yemeni-proxy have contributed to the current Israeli-terrorist reopened fighting.
A Fox News article adds some peripheral information regarding those rockets, also.
The caption on the image (disregard the poor editing of the image's placement)--implies a high failure rate of those rockets.
Either Iran's weapons aren't that reliable, or the rockets have trouble being shipped/are badly handled in transit, or
Hamas can't maintain them properly, or
Hamas can't set them up for launch/launch them reliably, or
Some combination of that.
Eric Hines
Biden administration is sending millions more aid to Palestinians, won’t commit to letting Israel buy more Iron Dome weapons.
https://twitter.com/omriceren/status/1393280908581556224?s=21
It's Israel's system, and they produce their own replenishments. All Biden can do is refuse to commit to letting Raytheon Systems, which builds Iron Dome weapons in conjunction with the Israeli producer and under contract to them continue manufacturing their portion of Israel's Iron Dome weapons.
As a legal matter, such an interference by Biden would be problematic, depending on the courage of Raytheon's management. As a political matter, Biden certainly can interfere--again depending on the courage of Raytheon's management.
Where Biden can really hurt the Israelis is through cutting off American funding for the Iron Dome.
Eric Hines
Iran's proxy Hezbollah hasn't joined in these rocket attacks. (https://www.aei.org/op-eds/why-hezbollah-remains-on-sidelines-of-israel-violence/). The Iranians are finding out what MAD looks like.
Hamas is mostly a creature of the Saudis and other Sunni Muslim Gulf States, and has its own funding via non-military operations in Gaza and the West Bank.
These attacks probably have more to do with the Hamas-Fatah conflict given that they started almost immediately after the PA canceled elections that Hamas would probably have won over Fatah, either as a chest-thumping display or to provide cover for attacks on Fatah. The Israelis taking out some of the other side probably doesn't bother either group much.
In 'Disunited Nations', Peter Ziehan speculates that the Saudis have more of a 'burn it all down' attitude as the U.S. disengages from the Middle East. They're in a better position to profit from short-term chaos than the Iranians.
“Hamas is mostly a creature of the Saudis...”
Mostly Qatar, these days. But the Iranians are directly providing rockets including the Badr 3, which is basically a 500 pound bomb with boosters.
The United States is essentially a servant of the Cabal, funding the terror campaigns that destabilize targets that the Cabal wants to disrupt, like Afghanistan, Iraq, or Libya.
The patriots have not been in control of the USA for a long time now.
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