How Iran, the 'Head of the Snake,' Directly Helped Hamas's Assault on Israel
by Khaled Abu Toameh • October 16, 2023 at 5:00 am
"We coordinated with Hezbollah and with Iran and the Axis [of Resistance] before, during and after the battle at the highest level." — Hamas representative Ahmed Abdulhadi, revealing Hamas coordination before and during the massacre, Newsweek, October 11, 2023.
Another Hamas official, Ali Baraka, told Russia's state-run RT outlet that his group had secretly planned the assault for two years and did not inform any other factions or allies, including Iran and Hezbollah, of the "zero hour." Baraka confirmed that Iran "gives us money and weapons."
While many in the West chose to disregard Iran's role in arming, training and funding Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the same cannot be said about a large number of Arabs who have long been warning of Tehran's expansionist actions in the Middle East. Some of those Arabs have been openly talking about how Iran uses its proxies to wreak havoc not only on Israel, but on some Arab countries. Through its proxies, the Iranian regime now effectively occupies Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, in addition to the Gaza Strip. The Arabs, in short, see clearly what many Westerners apparently want to remain oblivious to.
"Hamas is an organization affiliated with the clerical regime in Iran, just like Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and the Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq, and it is the same axis that threatens Saudi Arabia and Kuwait day and night. We differentiate between a just cause and a terrorist axis." — Mansour al-Malik, Saudi Arabian petroleum engineer, on X, October 8, 2023.
"Iranian Regime Mouthpiece Kayhan : Iran Is The Mind And Hands Behind Hamas; Operation 'Al-Aqsa Flood' [The Invasion of Israel] Was Planned By Qods Force Commander Qassem Soleimani Before he Was Killed; Khamenei Hinted in August 2022 at 'The Complete Conquest of Israel." — Report by the Middle East Media Research Institute, (MEMRI), October 12, 2023.
"Iranian Website Asr-e Calls On Iranians Not To Speak Out On Iranian Involvement In 'The Hamas-Israel Conflict' – For Fear Of Harming Iranian Interests...." — Report by MEMRI, October 13, 2023.
What will it take for the US and its allies to grasp that the appeasement of the Iranian regime is read by the mullahs and their proxies as weakness? If such appeasement continues, make no mistake: today, the carnage is Israel; tomorrow, it will be the US and Europe.
The Biden administration insists that it does not have any evidence of Iran's "direct" involvement in the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. The Biden administration has apparently totally dismissed the Wall Street Journal report on October 9, "Iran Helped Plot Attack on Israel Over Several Weeks," as well as the Washington Post's "Hamas received weapons and training from Iran, officials say."
Hamas leaders have indeed long been boasting of the financial and military aid they receive from Iran to enable them to pursue the Jihad (holy war) to slaughter Jews and extinguish Israel. Based on the statements of these leaders, it is massively clear that without Iran's support, and reported planning, Hamas could not have carried out the massacre of Israelis near the border with the Gaza Strip.
