THE horrific terrorist attack launched on Israel on Saturday was its 9/11.
Not since the country’s formation in 1948 has it witnessed so much bloodshed from a terrorist atrocity.
It’s a huge and traumatic psychological blow to Israelis, who long believed their fearsome Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and intelligence assets would keep them safe.
ReutersThe horrific terrorist attack launched on Israel on Saturday was its 9/11. Terror group Hamas — which has been in sole control of the Gaza Strip since 2007 — planned this attack carefully[/caption]
ReutersFirst, it made sure Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system was overwhelmed by what Hamas says were 5,000 rockets – the deathly hand of Iran is also behind this outrage[/caption]
That’s been shattered now.
Terror group Hamas — which has been in sole control of the Gaza Strip since 2007 — planned this attack carefully.
First, it made sure Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system was overwhelmed by what Hamas says were 5,000 rockets (Israel says it was around half that number).
Then it breached Gaza’s borders — still controlled by Israel after it pulled its military and settlers from the Strip in 2005.
Hamas terrorists swarmed across the border in a number of places, which was reminiscent of Islamic State surging into Iraq in 2016.
Murdering, hostage-taking and looting as they went, they reached as far as the city of Ofakim, 14 miles east of Gaza.
Innocent young people at the Supernova dance party in the desert near Kibbutz Re’im seem to have been targeted in a coordinated fashion.
Hamas gunmen are said to have attacked the festival from two sides.
Panicked festival-goers who jumped in their cars to escape were killed or taken hostage after terrorists set up roadblocks around the site.
The Hamas attack on Israel was pure terrorism from start to finish.
The operation was designed to kill or capture as many civilians as they possibly could.
The Palestinian Islamists couldn’t have pulled this off alone. The deathly hand of Iran is also behind this outrage.
Iran funnels Hamas weapons and cash to the tune of $100million a year, which is about 70 per cent of its funding.
Whether they actually ordered this attack or not, the Iranians must have known about it in advance.
Shia Muslim Iran is keen to sabotage a normalisation-of-relations agreement between Israel and its deadly Sunni Islam foe Saudi Arabia.
Part of the so-called Abraham Accords, the deal America has been trying to broker has been making slow but steady progress. The outcome of this attack is that agreement now goes into cold storage at least for a while and maybe for ever.
That suits the Iranians. They really didn’t want an Israeli/Saudi pact to reshape the politics of the Middle East.
Yet it’s also very dangerous for Iran because they may have unleashed forces they cannot control.
Hamas can act independently from its Iranian paymasters, yet on the other side of Israel’s northern border with Lebanon the Hezbollah terrorist franchise is kept on a shorter leash.
On a knife edge
Israel’s great worry is if Iran-controlled Hezbollah opens up a second front which would stretch the IDF.
It’s why it has amassed so much of its forces in Galilee in northern Israel.
Hezbollah has got tens of thousands of rockets which it could rain down on Israel which would, again, test the Iron Dome defences.
Both Russia and China have refused to condemn Saturday’s terrorist attack, which shows you where their sympathies lie.
Russia is an ally of Iran, having both supported Bashar al-Assad’s regime in the Syrian civil war. Iran supplies Russia with Shahed 136 loitering drones, which it has used against Ukraine.
I don’t think Russia had much to do with the Hamas attack as they have their hands full with their own war.
As for the BRICS nations — Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — forming a rival power bloc to the West, the only thing uniting them is the acronym. China and Russia are rivals and India and China are increasingly at loggerheads.
With the Middle East on a knife edge, the Americans are moving the Gerald R Ford — the biggest aircraft carrier in the world — to the eastern Mediterranean along with a missile cruiser and four missile destroyers.
It’s a message to both Russia and Iran that if they try to manipulate this crisis, the Americans will not stand aside.
It’s also a reassurance to Israel — which while not a member of Nato is a major ally of the alliance — that they really do have their back if things go wrong.
A carrier isn’t just a floating aerodrome. It’s also incredibly useful as a command and administration centre.
It’s essentially a forward base for the Americans which they can place right off the coast of Israel.
The US sends $2billion in military aid to Israel every year and wants its allies to know it has their full support.
Britain is also offering intelligence cooperation which is useful to the Israelis.
Britain and America operating together is easily the most impressive intelligence outlet in the world.
There’s now real demand among the Israeli military establishment to root out Hamas from the Gaza Strip once and for all.
It’s the same call that Americans made after 9/11 to hunt down al-Qaeda.
But Hamas has at least 130 Israeli hostages being held within Gaza. That hugely complicates any invasion.
Already — whether it’s true or not — Hamas is saying four of the hostages have been killed by Israeli bombing.
The terror group has also threatened to execute a hostage each time a Palestinian home is bombed without prior warning.
It ramps up the pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and IDF chiefs. It suggests the IDF may not be able to smash their way into Gaza as they normally would.
No one thinks the Israeli army will be defeated as this likely lengthy conflict unfolds.
But rescuing the hostages — while defeating Hamas — is one of the greatest challenges for a nation so often at war since its birth 75 years ago.
Innocent young people at the Supernova dance party in the desert near Kibbutz Re’im seem to have been targeted in a coordinated fashionTikTok Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
