Although nothing about Israel is ever certain, one could certainly make a compelling case that their ongoing battle with Hamas is really a test run for war with Iran.
As reported in the new edition of Der Spiegel, many Israelis believe that the current strikes against Gaza are a trial run for an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
For four years, the prime minister did relatively little against daily rocket attacks from “Hamastan,” says an Israeli security expert. But now he has crossed his “personal red line” and is taking action, first with a military strike against Gaza and then possibly against Iran. Israel’s military leadership is already referring to Gaza as the “Iranian front.”
Either way a devastating strike against the Hamas in Gaza would strike a serious blow to Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s regime as according to Israeli intelligence, Iran is the largest supplier of weapons to extremists in the area which could be part of an elaborate ploy on the part of Israel to justify attacks on Iran. What is known for sure is that Iranian manufactured Fajr-5 missiles are being used by Hamas to reach Israel’s two major cities, Tel Aviv last Thursday and Jerusalem the next afternoon.
This is an important psychological setback for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu as this is the first strike on Tel Aviv since 1991 at which time Iraqi depot Saddam Hussein ordered Scud missile to be fired on the city. The attack on Jerusalem was the first one in over 40 years since the 1967 war when Israel and Jordan fought over control of Jerusalem. Rockets were never aimed at the city but flew in as the two sides battled.
Jerusalem has long been thought to be the safest city in the Middle East as the city is a site that is holy for Muslims as well as Jews and Christians and it is widely understood that no Muslim country or group is going to endanger the Dome of the Rock or Al Asqa mosques, the Old City or the Arab neighborhoods in the vicinity of the Old City.
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