Iran Responsible for 80% of Israel’s Security Threats

March 7, 2017

by: Ilse Posselt

Tuesday, 07 March 2017 | According to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the overwhelming majority of security threats the Jewish state faces originate from one source: the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Speaking at a ceremony held at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem to mark the 25th anniversary of the 1992 Iran-sponsored bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, Netanyahu quoted one of Israel’s security agencies, telling the audience that “more than 80 percent of our security problems emanate from Iran.”

On 7 March 1992, a suicide bomber detonated in front of the Jewish state’s embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The blast killed 29 people, including a number of Israeli diplomats, and wounded nearly 250 more.

Netanyahu said that it was clear from the very beginning who was behind the deadly attack. “Iran initiated and planned it, and Hezbollah, which does what it [Iran] says, carried it out.”

The prime minister also pointed to the Iran-sponsored bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires two years later. This time, the blast killed 85 people and wounded at least 100.

“Iran is the greatest generator of terrorism in the world and we need to fight this terror because it is just one arm of Iranian aggression, which also seeks nuclear weapons and advances its ballistic missiles program,” he continued.

“Since the terror attack in Argentina, Israel has grown much stronger,” Netanyahu vowed. “We will forcefully oppose the arming of Hezbollah and dangerous weapons. Our red lines are thick and clear and we do not hesitate to act in order to enforce them.”

According to The Israel Project, Hezbollah is not the only terror proxy to benefit from the Islamic Republic’s resources. Tehran also supports Palestinian terror groups, including Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, through funds, intelligence and weapons. Late last month, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a clarion call to all Palestinians, calling for a “holy intifada” to destroy Israel, which Khamenei called a “cancerous tumor.”

Netanyahu’s address occurred mere hours before he received a call from US President Donald Trump to talk about the Iran nuclear deal as well as Tehran’s recent acts of aggression on contravention of the agreement.

According to a readout of the call which the prime minister’s office made available, the two world leaders “spoke at length about the dangers posed by the nuclear deal with Iran and Iran’s malevolent behavior in the region and about the need to work together to counter those dangers.”

Trump’s call appears to be prompted by reports that the Islamic Republic successfully carried out missile tests using the advanced S-300 aerial defense system received from Russia. Moreover, the International Atomic Energy Agency’s report on Iran’s compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal aimed at blocking Tehran’s path to a nuclear weapon indicates that “Iran is not fully complying with the agreement, or is at least pushing the envelope of compliance in a detrimental direction.”

Both Trump and Netanyahu are strongly opposed to the Iran nuclear deal. At the time the agreement was signed, Netanyahu hailed it as a “bad deal” that would pave rather than block the way for Tehran to become a nuclear power. Trump was more outspoken, calling it one of the worst deals he has ever witnessed.

Since his inauguration, Trump has also adopted a strict stance where the Islamic Republic is concerned. Last month, his administration imposed new sanctions on a number of individuals and entities connected to Tehran’s ballistic missile program. At the time, Trump issued a warning, telling Iran that it was “playing with fire” and had been “put on notice.”

For his part, Netanyahu revealed yesterday that he would be meeting with Russian President, Vladimir Putin on Thursday to reach “specific understandings” between Jerusalem and Moscow to prevent Iran from setting up a permanent military position in Syria and using the war-torn country as a base from which to launch operations against Israel.

Speaking at the opening of the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu warned Israeli lawmakers that Tehran was aiming to exploit the current efforts to hammer out a political agreement in Syria to establish a military foothold on Israel’s doorstep.

Posted on March 7, 2017

Source: (Bridges for Peace, 07 March 2017)

Photo Credit: Screenshot/ GPO