Israel in the Crosshairs

(September 2012)

On her Southern border an attack by Sinai Islamic terrorists which killed 15 Egyptian soldiers was repulsed by IDF forces. In the wake of the attack there was the re-militarization of the Sinai by Egyptian security and military attacks on Sinai Bedouin terrorist enclaves. That led to Egypt positioning tanks and air defense installations in violation of the 1979 Camp David Accords. In May when Israel sent troops to reinforce its southern border with Egypt we made the following prediction:

Egypt Fully Remilitarizing Sinai –with U.S. Help”.

Bryen notes the role of the MFO in U.S. plans:

[. . .]

article Iran’s use of the Sudan to send weapons and trainers for terrorists groups across Egypt into the Sinai and ultimately to Hamas in Gaza. Israel has undertaken long distance raids in the Sudan to interdict Iranian-supplied arms convoys. Should Israel undertake a possible unilateral action against Iran’s nuclear facilities, would Egypt somehow be involved to support Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine, by launching rocket and missile attacks on Israel’s southern border as part of a counter-attack in a multi-front regional war?

article:

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Dr. Ronen Bergman in a Ynet article suggests Iran has made very dramatic moves towards enriching fissile material for bomb-making and may be on the cusp of entering the zone of immunity. Kahlili indicates that the Islamic Republic may already have nuclear weapons some of which may have been purchased from rogue sources in the former Soviet Union, but may lack the codes for their use. The urgency of preparations by Israel for a possible action is that the zone of immunity may be fast closing or even passed, while US policy demurs effectively saying that until bombs are actually assembled with the means of delivery it will not act.

seized control of several towns along the frontier with Turkey giving rise to threats by Ankara that they may possibly intervene to prevent an alliance with Kurds in the adjacent Turkey and the Iraqi Kurdish regional government. The Kurds and other minorities and Sunni merchants would prefer a federated Syria with a weak non-Islamist central government. However, the threat of terrorist control of Syria’s vast caches of WMD (chemical and biological warfare agents) and the means of delivery is of concern to both the US and Israel. Add to that Iran’s recent announcement that it might have transferred WMD to its terrorist proxies, Hezbollah and Hamas.

caught by Shin Bet and National Police penetrating Israel’s northern border trying to foment terrorist attacks by supplying explosives to Israeli Arab drug smugglers in an attempted bomb plot. Hezbollah leader Sheik Nasrallah has added to Iran’s vitriol by threatening to rain Scud missiles on the Galilee region causing upwards of 10,000 deaths. According to the Jerusalem Post, Syria transferred Scuds missiles to Hezbollah in April. Reports in The Wall Street Journal indicate that Israel had considered attacking the convoy that brought the Scuds from Syria into Lebanon. Hezbollah is acknowledged to have upwards of 40,000 plus rockets and missiles. Hezbollah has conducted largest training exercises with members of its terrorist army directed at occupying Israel’s north.

Bates:  Good afternoon and welcome to Your Turn.  This is a special edition of Your Turn.  From time to time we do these round table discussions about what is going on in the Middle East and today I have with me in the studio, Jerry Gordon, Senior Editor of the New English Review and its blog, “the Iconoclast”.  He is also the author of the book, “The West Speaks”.  Jerry Gordon, welcome back to Your Turn.

Gordon:  Glad to be back.

Schanzer:  Thanks again for having me.

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