In that Iran provided, at a minimum, financial support and funding and materials for the Hamas brutality, and public approval after the fact, AND does nothing to prevent future attacks, let me be the first to say let’s penalize Iran and withdraw the $6 billion. Here is a story about hostage blackmail funds, and which makes the point the money is fungible–Iran could indirectly use the money to finance terror by freeing up other funds. “Iran’s $6B in unfrozen funds: What to know,” Fox Business, 10-10-23.
Quote of the Day: “We kiss the foreheads and arms of the resourceful and intelligent designers”—Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. “Iran’s Supreme Leader Issues Tehran’s Latest Denial of Involvement in Israel Attacks,” New York Times, 10-10-23.
“Macron hints at Iran’s Involvement in Hamas Attacks,” Politico, 10-10-23.
It turns out that some in the Senate have the same thought as I penned earlier today. “Nebraska senator joins 19 Republicans appealing transfer of $6 billion to Iran,” WOWT, 10-10-23.
“An Acrimonious Saga: Confronting Iran,” Geopolitical Monitor, 10-10-23.
Flashback—to just over a year, when in a serious escalation PIJ shot many rockets from Gaza, and Israel fought back. Here’s an instructive quote (recorded at that time in this blog) from Israeli Brig. Gen. (res.) Amir Avivi. “The military operation in Gaza began with an interception of a terror squad on its way to carry out an attack on Israel. This sort of attack, challenging the highest levels [of decision makers] in Israel, wouldn’t just require approval from Tehran, but is most likely an Iranian initiative. As we speak, the PIJ leader, [the Syria-based] Ziyad al-Nakhalah, is in Tehran, meeting the Iranian president and the IRGC commander. PIJ is an absolute proxy of Iran. Tehran funds it and runs it.” See “Iran ‘almost certainly’ to blame for escalation – former Israeli general,” Jerusalem Post, 8-8-22.
One important question remaining is Who ordered the barbarism? The widespread simultaneous carnage by multiple Gaza terrorists indicates they had been ordered to do the atrocities, but by Hamas? By the IRGC/Quds Force? “‘You see the babies, the mothers, the fathers in their bedrooms and how the terrorists killed’,” AP, 10-10-23.
“Iran is seeking Russian assistance for a new spy satellite: reports,” Space.com, 10-10-23.
“U.S. investigating whether Iran gave advanced training to Hamas militants,” NBC, 10-10-23. Subtitle—“Current and former U.S. officials say decades of Iranian arms, funding and training made the worst terrorist attack on Israel in decades possible.” Here is portion, about Iran and Hamas and PIJ missiles–“In an interview in 2021, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force, said that Gaza and Lebanon were at the forefront of the battle against Israel and that “everything you see of their missile capability has been supported by the Islamic Republic of Iran.” “Instead of giving them a fish or teaching them to catch a fish,” he said, “we taught our allies and friends how to make a hook and they are now in possession of missile capabilities and technologies.” Iran’s relationship with Hamas dates to the early 1990s, when the group first rose to prominence in Gaza. Iran hosted its leaders at conferences in Tehran in a bid to promote a hard-line alternative to Fatah, the Palestinian party engaging in Arab-Israeli peace talks at the time. Iranian officials invited Hamas militants to training camps set up for Tehran’s proxies in the region. After it initially provided Hamas with weapons smuggled into Gaza, Iran helped the group manufacture its own rockets locally, based on Iranian designs and technology, according to security experts. Members of Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps taught Hamas engineers how to make short-range rockets from everyday materials such as sugar and pipes, said Ido Levy of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. By 2012, Hamas was firing long-range Iranian Fajr-5 rockets at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Hamas has made steady progress since then in its ability to quickly launch large numbers of rockets and to strike targets up to 45 miles away.”
Another Quote of the Day from the Supreme Leader, after the Hamas slaughter of over 1,000 Israelis: “God willing, the cancer of the usurper Zionist regime will be eradicated at the hands of the Palestinian people and the Resistance forces throughout the region.” He wrote on his official X account. “Biden’s Iran Policy Blamed For Hamas Attack On Israel,” Iran International, 10-10-23.