Iran’s 84-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected 61-year-old exiled Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh’s call for direct involvement in the war with Israel. Haniyeh asked Khamenei to invoke the “Axis of Resistance,” something started by Iran 20 years ago to help Palestinians to destroy Israel and reclaim Hamas’ fantasy of Palestine. Meeting with Khamenei in Tehran, Hanijyeh thought he would have Iran’s military support in beating back Israel’s push to destroy the 36-year-old terror group founded by Sheik Ahmed Yassin in 1987 to serve as a military wing for the Palestine Liberation Organization [PLO]. PLO founder Yasser Arafat under Western pressure softened his stance on recognizing Israel’s right to exist, entering into a series of peace deals with Israel. Arafat used Hamas to play good-cop, bad-cop, hoping to win more concessions with Israel.
Arafat was eventually poisoned Nov. 11, 2004 but not after enriching himself for years at the expense of the Palestinian people. Hamas learned well from Arafat how to hide behind the Palestinians cause to loot the generous donations from foreign governments, especially the oil-rich Gulf States. Khamenei knows that Haniyeh, who’s exiled to Qatar, is worth $4 billion, all plundered from his time running Hamas. Haniyeh’s Hamas colleague, exiled leader Khaled Meshaal, also living in Qatar, is worth billions from looting Hamas during his time in power. Now they go to the Ayatollah asking for military help while Israel destroys Gaza and Hamas infrastructure. Khameni told Haniyeh that Iran had Hamas moral and political support but would not be joining the fight with Israel. All the talk of Arab brothers fighting the evil Zionists no longer flies in Tehran.
Iran has too many of its own domestic problems to start a war with Israel. Since the Sept. 16, 2022 beating death of 23-year-old Kurdish young woman Mahsa Amini by Iran;s Basij militia, Khamenei has been busy defending an internal revolution against mullah rule in Iran. With Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi, Khamenei has managed a brutal crackdown on nationwide protests and rioting, resulting in thousands of arrests and deaths by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. Khamenei told Haniyech that he was not informed about the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre near the Gaza border that killed at least 1,200 Israelis, taking another 240 hostages. Khamenei told Haniyech that even its Yemen Houthi rebels or Hezbollah militia would not join the fight directly against Israel. Skirmishes on the northern Israeli frontier with Hezbollah don’t amount to full-scale war against Israel.
Iran’s Hezbollah militia, led by 63-year-old Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, now an integral part of Lebanon’s government, can only do so much without jeopardizing an already beleaguered Lebanao, still not fully recovered from Hezbollah’s 2006 war with Isarel. If Nasrallah learned anything from that conflict that Lebanon does not have the resources for war with Israel or anyone else. “We woke up to a war,” said an unnamed Hezbollah commander, not authorized to talk publicly. Khamenei let Haniyeh know that Iran was also not informed about Hamas’ latest conflict with Israel and would not be drawn into t he conflict. “You gave us no warning of your Oct. 7 attack on Israel and we will not enter the war on your behalf,” Khamenei told Haniyech. Hamas officials have called on all Arab and Muslim states to join the jihad against Israel, knowing the consequences of such aggression.
Most Palestinians and Arab states found out the hard way in 1967 when they attacked Israel in the Six Day War. It took Israel on six days to defeat Palestinians and six Arab states, destroying the militaries of Egypt, Syira, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Kuwait. No functioning Arab government wants war with Israel for obvious reasons. Haniyeh found out that Iran also has its own problems and wants no part of its conflict with Israel. Oil-rich Arab Gulf States have expressed frustrations with Hamas with their history of war with Israel, squandering billions destroying Gaza periodically mainly because the Hamas government runs out of cash. Ayatollah’s statement to Haniyeh lets the 36-year-old militant group know they’re on their own. Haniyeh and Meshaal watch from afar as their Hamas brothers are systematically dismantled by the IDF, without any Muslim state willing to save them.
U.S. officials under Biden have finally seen the light about not letting Hamas’ information war discourage Israel from finishing the job. Even 76-year-old former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said recently in an oped that Israel must finish off Hamas. Past U.S. governments were squeamish about letting Israel continue its wars against Palestinian militants. Biden realized, to his credit, that there can be no future Mideast peace with Hamas ruling the Gaza Strip. Whatever the pressure from the U.N. and global press, Biden has let Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu do what’s necessary to secure Israel’s security. Hamas’ brothers in the Islamic resistance have not come forward to defend Hamas because they know they’re a corrupt terrorist group out for themselves not the Palestinian people. When you look at the results, Hamas has been as disaster running Gaza since 2007.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
