Turkey has been a dominant and strategic partner to Hamas and its leadership, /egypt was the conduit through which arms flowed into Gaza. Beware. Opinion.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, published, back in 2011, his book entitled “Palestine.” In explicit detail, the leader of Iran laid out his vision of how to destroy the “Zionist entity” phase by phase:
Make life in Israel miserable and unbearable with daily terror from the Palestinian Arabs in Judea and Samaria, from Hamas in Gaza, and from Hezbollah in Lebanon creating a never ending instability – militarily, politically, economically, and culturally – thereby threatening the national cohesion of the State of Israel.
The final goal in his book ends with the dispersion of the Jews to their previous countries, those from which they fled or immigrated. It was no surprise that when lethal Iranian ballistic missiles were launched on Israel twelve days ago, Palestinian Arabs everywhere celebrated and danced in the streets and on their rooftops, handed out sweets to passersby, and cheered on the destruction and havoc caused by these bus size ballistic missiles carrying 1.5 ton warheads.
Yet despite this apocalyptic Islamist fantasy, and as the temporary ceasefire brokered by President Trump between Iran and Israel went into effect, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is holed up in some descript bunker in the north of Iran with his immediate family, cut off from the world, exhausted and consumed with his hatred of the Jews and the State of Israel, wondering about the moment Israel decides to finish him off.
The current Iranian regime’s stated goal from its inception has been the total annihilation of the State of Israel. This is not a slogan, but a cornerstone of Iranian religious, political, and military doctrine. Iran and its current leadership are indeed an “existential threat” to the State of Israel, but had their nuclear arsenal and capabilities destroyed by Israel literally at the last moment.
The Iranian plan was to surround the State of Israel and coordinate an attack with its terror proxies; Hamas terror organization in Gaza, Palestinian Arab terrorists in Judea and Samaria, Hezbollah terror organization in Lebanon, the Houthis terror organization from Yemen, the Syrian Army, beginning with the barbaric and savage attack on Israel on October 7th, with thousands sadistically murdered, wounded, and taken hostage.
Yet, from that dark day, from the depths of unfathomable suffering when Israel was caught unprepared for the murderous onslaught, we have arisen and can proudly raise our heads. We succeeded in destroying Iran’s nuclear capabilities that endangered the continuing existence of the State of Israel, destroying the Hamas terror organization, destroying the Hezbollah terror organization, destroying the Syrian Army. The political and military leadership of all these enemies has been eliminated one by one and at times in clusters.
In the aftermath of the ten day war between Israel and Iran, Israel’s decision makers must calibrate their thinking about how to deter future adversaries who despite being perceived as deterred, were able to coordinate an offensive initiative, rooted in the element of surprise, and inflict death and destruction on a local level, severely weakening Israel’s strategic capabilities and dominance in the Middle East. Israel launched Operation Rising Lion to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival, but no less to send a very specific lesson to future adversaries such as the nations of Egypt and Turkey. Both of these nations have quietly abetted and provided political and strategic support to the very same terror proxies trained and funded by the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Egypt and Israel signed an historic peace agreement in March 1979 to end hostilities and normalize relations. It marked the first treaty of its kind between an Arab country and Israel. The peace agreement between Egypt and Israel was viewed at the time as having reshaped the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict for the better.
Egypt’s claim to de-escalate and bring an end to the conflict between Israel and her neighbors would be much more credible had they neutralized and prevented the construction of hundreds of underground tunnels between the Gaza Strip and the adjacent Sinai Peninsula, the eastern border of Egypt for the past two decades, These tunnels, some large enough to allow motor vehicles to pass through, enabled Hamas to import arsenals of weapons and unlimited materials that came through the tunnels that went from Egupt to enable the construction of an underground military capacity that threatened the State of Israel.
Although Egypt is a poor country, with a low GNP per capita rating, with tens of millions of Egyptians forced to live in cemeteries or boxes as a substitute for a home, Egypt has built up the strongest army among the Arab nations of the Middle East with over: 5,000 tanks, hundreds of advanced fighter warplanes and helicopters, over 100 naval vessels and submarines, and an estimated one million soldiers in uniform.
A study by the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies reported that Egypt’s air force has undergone the most significant modernization of any military in the Arab world. “From the point of view of weapon systems,” the author concluded, “the military-technological gap between the Egyptian and Israeli Air Forces is gradually narrowing.” In addition, the “Egyptian Air Force’s increasing confidence is reflected in its acquisition of aircraft for deep-penetration strikes into enemy territory.”
Egypt now has some of the most sophisticated U.S.-made weapons, including Abrams tanks, F-16 fighter planes, and Apache attack helicopters. Western intelligence agencies are aware of and have leaked that Israel – the country Egypt signed a peace treaty with – is the “enemy” in all of Egypt’s war games.
Turkey is one of the few countries in the world that most Americans do not visit, probably in response to the 1978 movie “Midnight Express”, portraying Turkey for what it is, a backward, sadistic, and corrupt nation.
Despite its 85 million citizens, Turkey has failed to position itself as an influential regional power. The current Islamist government’s new policy, which is premised on Neo-Ottomanization (a return to the Ottoman Empire’s glory days,) registered a series of stinging diplomatic failures in recent years. Yet Prime Minister Erodgan and his party have reinforced their political status within Turkey through the daily scapegoating of Israel in the “best” of Islamic tradition.
Only recently Turkey expelled the Israeli ambassador, suspended defense contracts with Jerusalem, announced legal action against senior Israeli figures in European courts, threatened to bring the dispute before the international court and “take measures for freedom of maritime movement in the Mediterranean” including positioning her Navy so as to interfere with the free movement of Israeli shipping and mining expeditions in the Mediterranean Sea.
Turkey has also been a dominant and strategic partner to Hamas and its leadership, enabling terror leaders to operate, coordinate, fund, and train terrorists in Turkey.
The epilogue to the current period ends with the total humiliation of Iran; militarily, technologically, and politically, while exposing Iran as nothing more than a “paper tiger”, and nothing close to the regional superpowerhood the Iranians have falsely claimed. The lesson should not be lost on the nations of Egypt and Turkey. Both nations have large populations of poor and uneducated citizens, allowing them to become just another Islamic nation that can be overthrown at any time.
Ron Jagergrew up in the South Bronx of New York City, making Aliyah in 1980. Served for 25 years in the IDF as a Mental Health Field Officer in operational units. Prior to retiring was Commander of the Central Psychiatric Clinic for Reserve Solders at Tel-Hashomer. Since retiring has been involved in strategic consultancy to NGO’s and communities in the Gaza Envelope on resiliency projects to assist first responders and communities. Ron has written numerous articles for outlets in Israel and abroad focusing on Israel and the Jewish world.
To contact: medconf@gmail.com, Website: www.ronjager.com.
