by Joseph Puder
How the U.S.'s backdoor deal with the Islamic Republic will fund Jenin’s terrorists.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu designated a name to the action in Jenin this week; “Operation Home and Garden.” Jenin has become, in the words of PM Netanyahu, “a sanctuary city for terror.” Behind this sanctuary city of terror lurks the ugly face of the Iranian Quds Force, the international arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). Qassem Soleimani commanded the Quds Force and was killed by the US (Soleimani was responsible for the killing of thousands of American soldiers in Iraq and elsewhere) on January 3, 2020, near the Baghdad International Airport in Iraq. One of Soleimani’s major projects was to build a terror infrastructure around Israel. In the north, he placed Hezbollah in Lebanon to threaten Israel with more than 180,000 rockets. To the northeast of Israel, Shiite-Muslim Hezbollah and Iranian sponsored Shiite militias were positioned next to the Israeli Golan Heights. In the south, Soleimani directed Sunni-Muslim Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in the Gaza Strip to harass Israel with Iranian supplied arms, including rockets, military advisers, as well as financial aid. The next area he was planning as an operative front against Israel was Judea and Samaria. Jenin had become its primary base. PIJ and Hamas operatives from Jenin have been terrorizing Israel in the recent eighteen months, and after the Eli terror attack a couple of weeks ago in which four Israeli civilians were murdered, the people of Israel have had enough. There has been mounting pressure on the Netanyahu government to liquidate once and for all the terror nest in Jenin.
The Biden administration was duly informed of the impending Israeli operation, and no doubt Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, or defense Minister Yoav Gallant must have also made clear to Washington that Iran is behind the recent terror coming in a coordinated form from Hezbollah in the north, PIJ in Gaza, and increasingly from Jenin. The White House defended Israel’s right to security, and in a statement issued it said, “We have seen the reports and are monitoring the situation closely. We support Israel’s security and the right to defend its people against Hamas, PIJ, and other terrorist groups.” British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak likewise defended Israel’s right to self-defense, and the protection of its civilian population must be prioritized. He also cautioned the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to demonstrate restraint. However, Israel made it clear that it is always careful not to hurt uninvolved civilians.
The Islamic Republic’s long-term view is to create conditions in Jenin similar to what it had established in southern Lebanon and in Gaza. Ideally, Tehran would like to unify all the above fronts, especially in case of an open war with Israel. They figure that this way, they would be able to paralyze Israel from retaliating against Iranian targets. Iran has clearly shown that it currently prefers to have others do its dirty work. It is apparently cheaper for Tehran to spend money on its proxies than wage a direct war against Israel. The fear that the US might intervene against Iran should it attack Israel directly is one of the reasons it prefers to activate several fronts against Israel, including possibly the Houthis in Yemen, whom the Iranians also supplied with missiles that can perhaps reach Israel.
By fomenting terror against Israel, and expecting an Israeli military reaction, Iran hopes that the sight of Palestinian casualties would increase tension between the Gulf states (particularly Bahrain and United Arab Emirates which made peace with Israel) and Israel, including Saudi Arabia, and harm Israel’s ties with the Gulf states. Moreover, Tehran would like to use the IDF operation in Jenin to unite all Muslim countries against Israel.
In Israel, the counter-terror operation against Iran’s Palestinian proxies has had wide consensus. Opposition leader Yair Lapid referred to the operation ‘Home and Garden’ as “A justified action against terrorist infrastructure and the attempts to build missile production systems in Jenin with Iranian assistance.” Benny Gantz, leader of the National Union party and fellow opposition leader, in a meeting with the media, said, “Whoever threatens Israeli citizens will end up in prison or a grave.” He added, “We all back the security forces and IDF. I trust them to carry out the mission and pray that they come home in peace. We, as a responsible opposition, back the government in its fight against terror.”
While Netanyahu thanked the Biden administration for supporting Israel’s operation in Jenin, the same Biden administration, according to Fox News, quoting from a report by Behnam Ben Taleblu, (senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) ), sought a backdoor to negotiate with the Islamic Republic of Iran. The double-speak by the Biden administration is becoming apparent. On one hand, it is alleging that the renewal of the Iran Nuclear Deal was on a back burner, and on the other, it is seeking a quiet channel to the mullahs. The US and Iran are reportedly engaged in the last few months, according to Taleblu, and Richard Goldberg, senior advisor at the FDD, on a deal in which Iran would release three prisoners, and the US will provide the release of $7 billion in sanctioned funds held in escrow under US sanctions in South Korea.
The deal, if carried out, would essentially mean that the US would be paying ransom to the Ayatollahs. Moreover, such a deal would directly benefit Iranian terror-financing, and in particular, Tehran’s proxies such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and PIJ. It will provide for the rebuilding of the terrorist infrastructure in Jenin, aimed at killing Israelis, which the IDF had just neutralized.
The talk is of a “less for less” deal between the Biden administration and Iran, to which Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei referred to by saying “There is nothing wrong with cutting a deal with the West” or America. He said this after years of lambasting the US administrations of Trump and Biden. Clearly, the Iranians would get a great deal, but it is doubtful the US would get any value from it. Iran doesn’t pose an existential threat to the US, but it does to Israel. The Ayatollahs are a distance away from fielding a long-range intercontinental ballistic missile that could reach the US. Therefore, the Iranian nuclear threat is a theoretical issue for Washington. For Israel, on the other hand, Iran’s medium-range missiles can hit Israel. But even without using a nuclear payload on their missiles, Iran might supply such missiles to Jenin’s PIJ and Hamas operatives, which could wreak havoc among Israel’s civilian population.
Any amount of money released to Iran would be used to fuel terror against Israel and America. Let us hope that the Biden administration understands the consequences of delivering $7 billion to Iran.
Joseph Puder, a freelance journalist, is the Founder and Executive Director of the
Interfaith Taskforce for America and Israel (ITAI). He is a regular
contributor to Frontpage.
Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/iran-is-behind-jenins-terror-base/
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