Thursday's terrorist attack in Jerusalem in which eight seminary students were killed by a Palestinian gunman, and the latest fighting between between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, are more than new chapters in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: They are part of a much larger struggle underway between Iran and Israel. As crowds took to the streets of Gaza celebrating the carnage in Jerusalem, Hamas issued a statement declaring that it "blesses" the operation. The Iranian-backed Hezbollah's al-Manar television station called the massacre at the yeshiva a "heroic" operation against an "extremist" school.
Iran and Syria have long been the major arms suppliers for Hamas. A senior Israeli military intelligence official said Monday that all of the 20 long-range rockets that had been fired from Gaza into Israel since Feb. 28 were Iranian-made Grads, which have a range of approximately 12.5 miles. Hamas and another Iranian-backed group called the Popular Resistance Committees have said they have upwards of 300 of the missiles in Gaza.
Iran has spent, conservatively speaking, tens of millions of dollars in helping to turn Gaza into an armed camp since Israel unilaterally withdrew its civilians and soldiers from Gaza in 2005. Dozens if not hundreds of Gazans have left the territory in recent years to undergo military training in Iran. Afterward, these men are smuggled back into Gaza to join Hamas and such terrorist organizations as Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which routinely fire rockets and missiles into Israel. These groups, aided by Iranian agents and Hezbollah trainers, have stepped up weapons smuggling since Jan. 23, when Hamas destroyed part of the border fence with Egypt. During the ensuing chaos, an estimated 200,000 Gazans poured into Egypt. Some crossed the border to obtain foodstuffs and other household items, but others were jihadists who left Gaza and crossed into Egypt with the hope of arming themselves and re-entering the unguarded Sinai border with Israel.The parts were smuggled into Gaza, then reassembled. And the situation will likely get more dangerous in the coming months, as Hamas, with Iranian help, works to extend the range of the rockets.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has come under intensified pressure to take military action. Earlier this week, Israel launched several days of operations against rocket launchers in Gaza. Several days ago, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose government has been fomenting the Gaza-Israel violence, accused Israel of perpetrating a "Holocaust" in Gaza. Those are strong words coming from a Mideast leader who questions whether the Nazis perpetrated the Holocaust.
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