by Prof. Eyal Zisser
The voices belong to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, or in Gaza, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas – but in both cases, the deeds are that of Iran.
Last
week, the Israeli public received a reminder about the danger lying in
wait in the north, amid reports of Hezbollah's ongoing efforts to
establish a presence along the border on the Golan Heights. Over the
weekend the country's focus was on the missile attack from Gaza on
central Israel, which reminded us all – even if, according to IDF
sources, the missile were launched as a result of "human error" – about
the ticking time bomb on our southern border.
The voices belong to Hezbollah leader
Hassan Nasrallah, or in Gaza, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas – but
in both cases, the deeds are that of Iran. The Islamic republic wants to
tighten the noose around Israel with rockets and terror on all fronts.
This, as it pursues the ultimate goal laid out two decades ago by none
other than Yasser Arafat in his infamous Johannesburg speech, when he
said that the Palestinians' strategic objective was to make life so
hellish for Israelis that they would want to leave their country.
In the time that has passed, Israel has
gained the upper hand in this conflict. Tehran has been forced to
withdraw its forces from southern Syria and is struggling to realize its
aspiration of building an active anti-Israel front on Syrian soil –
including air and naval bases and mainly advanced missiles – with which
to menace, deter and exhaust Israel.
Hezbollah's efforts to establish a foothold
on the Golan have also been fruitless. Ever since it intervened in the
Syrian civil war in the spring of 2013, the terrorist organization has
tried establishing terrorist cells along the border with the help of
local Syrians, and its operatives patrol the border frontier as a matter
of routine. Hezbollah's aim is to form an active front against Israel,
stretching, as declared by Nasrallah, from Rosh Hanikra on the
Mediterranean Sea to Hamat Gader in the Jordan Valley.
Thus far, however, Israel has been able to
thwart these efforts. Enlisted local operatives have been eliminated.
Samir Kuntar – the child murderer who joined Hezbollah after his release
from Israeli prison – and Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of the
organization's former military commander, were also assassinated after
being tasked with spearheading these efforts.
Hezbollah has not given up, apparently, and
recently formed a clandestine unit to gather intelligence on Israeli
forces along the border to prepare the groundwork for future terrorist
attacks. It has done this without the knowledge of its host, Syrian
President Bashar Assad, who isn't heeded in Tehran or in Beirut, due to
his weakness and utter dependence on Iranian military support.
Exposing this unit was meant to deter
Hezbollah and let it know it is "exposed and vulnerable" to Israeli
intelligence. It is also a message to Assad, who emerged victorious from
his country's civil war, thanks to Russia and Iran, that Tehran and
Hezbollah are looking to appropriate his triumph.
The Assad regime's lack of international
legitimacy, due to his atrocities and particularly his weakness and
willingness to bow to Iran and Hezbollah, have led the American
administration to change its policies pertaining to Israel's status on
the Golan. Nikki Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the United
Nations, was the first to vote against a resolution condemning Israel's
presence on the Golan Heights. "The destruction Assad is leaving in his
wake proves he isn't capable of ruling over anything," she said at the
time. Other senior American officials, such as Sen. Lindsey Graham, who
visited the territory last week, followed in her footsteps. Others in
the international community will follow in the wake created by the Trump
administration – similar to the American president's recognition of
Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
Israel must be uncompromising as it
continues countering Iran and Hezbollah's presence in Syria, whether
through diplomatic means or warning shots fired via the media. First and
foremost, however, it must strike the head of the snake every time it
rears its head. Thanks to Assad, the Golan Heights will remain safely in
Israel's hands.
Prof. Eyal Zisser is a lecturer in the Middle East History Department at Tel Aviv University.
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/on-the-golan-iran-talks-israel-acts/
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