The US is ignoring Iran's involvement Hamas's Gaza border massacres - opinion

Following Hamas’s brutal attack in Israel on October 7, United States officials signaled their country’s ironclad support of Israel. In an emotional address, President Joe Biden expressed a genuine abhorrence of Hamas atrocities and his conviction that Israel is fighting against modern barbarians – the enemies of Western civilization. The Biden administration has promised to stand by Israel in this conflict, including providing the necessary equipment.

Furthermore, a US air carrier is in the Eastern Mediterranean. US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan explained that the warship is there not to deal with Hamas but “to send a clear message of deterrence to other states or non-state actors that might seek to widen this war.”

Israelis savor the unequivocal American support for its war on Hamas. Biden’s long-standing and evident friendship with the Jewish State is warming Israeli hearts. All polls show that most Americans (over two-thirds) support Israel.

Less pleasant to Israeli ears is the reluctance of the Biden administration to blame Iran for the tragic events along the Gaza border. Secretary of State Antony Blinken refused to acknowledge an Iranian role in the attack, even though more evidence of clear links to Tehran is being presented in the American media.

How is Iran behind Hamas's actions on the Gaza border?

Hamas would not exist without the support of Iran, which has regularly sent funds to support it. Tehran trained the Hamas terrorists, smuggled weapons into the Gaza Strip, and transfer the technology needed to building a local industry capable of producing missiles. And those are the missiles that are launched against Israel’s population centers.

Iran and its proxies Hamas and Hezbollah met in September in Lebanon. The subject on the agenda was coordinating activities against Israel. More evidence is showing up on Iran’s involvement in planning the Hamas attack.

Hezbollah, which has opened fire at Israel from Lebanon, is acting with Iranian permission and guidance. So far, the Shia Islamist party’s engagement has been minor. However, it is unclear whether the American efforts to isolate the Gaza arena and prevent escalation will succeed.

Washington’s deliberate blind eye to Iran’s mischief in the region – even when its naval ships were harassed by vessels of the Iranian Islamic Guards – amounts to ostrich-like behavior.

American efforts to dissuade Iran and Hezbollah from joining the fray are helping Israel, indeed. However, they also serve the purpose of saving the tacit nuclear deal with Iran that Washington foolishly still pursues.

Is the desire to present a reasonable Iran that can be trusted to abide by the nuclear American-Iranian understanding the ulterior motive behind the American behavior? No matter. An Iran that orchestrates massacres of Jews cannot be an agreement partner to the US.

How can Biden continue tangoing with Iran if this entity is an accomplice to barbarian genocidal acts? Hamas was declared an enemy of humanity. Does not the sponsor of Hamas deserve that same epithet?

America wants a nuclear deal because otherwise, it will have to do something about the nuclear progress in Iran, which constitutes an existential threat to US ally Israel, gives an incentive for nuclear proliferation in the region, and is a potential danger for states within the range of Tehran’s missiles (over 2,000 kilometers). Irresponsibly, Washington prefers to look the other way. It also ignores Iranian involvement in drug and counterfeit medicines trafficking and in helping the Russian war effort in Ukraine.

Moreover, Israel might wake up one day soon to American pressure to stop fighting. Pictures of the destruction and casualties in Gaza – inevitable since Hamas uses civilians as a human shield in flagrant violation of international law – might, as before, elicit calls for a ceasefire before Israel achieves its goal of entirely dismantling the military capability of Hamas.

Biden, as well as Blinken, urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly to minimize civilian casualties in the war against the Gaza terrorists on humanitarian grounds. That is a noble goal; and it also minimizes the chances of enraging the Arab street, which would harm American interests.

One day, the US might decide Hamas was punished enough – in complete disagreement with the Israeli assessment – and activate the “political clock” that started at the beginning of this large-scale ground operation. That scene has played out in the past.

Washington would probably like to prevent an escalation by Iran’s proxy Hezbollah that will come in the wake of Hamas propaganda and the inevitable hostile media reports. Such escalation would undermine the effort to keep Iran out of the conflict.

The only recipe for a more peaceful Middle East is for the US to attack Iran’s nuclear infrastructure – or give Israel all it needs to do it. Only the destruction of Tehran’s atomic potential will end its hegemony dreams for the time being; allay the fears of America’s Arab friends; spare the need to transfer nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia; avoid fueling nuclear proliferation, and stop Chinese encroachment in the region. The ayatollahs of Iran and their proxies are the enemies of humanity.

Without such understanding, the US will be viewed in the Middle East and elsewhere as a paper tiger.

The writer is president of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS).