Israel Update for February 2012

David Dolan

International speculation intensified during February about a possibly pending Israeli military strike on Iran's rogue nuclear development programme. America's Defense Secretary stated that such action is likely sometime before Iran completes the transfer of its uranium enrichment facilities to hardened underground bunkers, expected to be accomplished before early summer. This came as Iran's boisterous leaders declared once again that the world's only Jewish State will soon be wiped off the world map, while simultaneously launching a new round of military exercises in the roiling region.

The war of words between Iran and its self-declared enemies was transformed into actual violence during the month when terrorist attacks were launched against Israeli diplomatic personnel in two foreign countries, India and the former Soviet republic of Georgia, leaving the wife of an Israeli diplomat seriously wounded. A third planned assault was thwarted in Thailand. After it was confirmed that Iranian agents were behind the attacks, Israeli facilities around the world were place on the highest state of alert while Israeli tourists traveling overseas were warned by their government to be extra vigilant as they move about.

To the north of Israel, fighting intensified in Syria just hours after Russia and China blocked a United Nations Security Council resolution that called upon embattled Syrian dictator Bashar Assad to immediately step down from power. Heavy street clashes occurred for the first time in the heart of the Syrian capital city, Damascus. Early in the month, the United States and Britain pulled their ambassadors out of Syria to protest the rising death toll in the crumbling Arab country, followed by Egypt and other countries. This came as news reports said foreign volunteer Al Qaida jihad warriors had joined the opposition battle to topple the entrenched police state regime. An opposition leader claimed Assad has begun to use chemical weapons in his intensifying struggle to remain in power.

Iranian warships sailed through the Suez Canal during the month to dock in Syrian ports in a dramatic demonstration of the extremist Shiite regime's determination to assist its main Arab ally in whatever way possible. This came as fresh reports revealed that heavily armed Iranian Revolutionary Guards and Lebanese Hizbullah militiamen were being positioned around many Syrian military outposts, apparently designed to protect the facilities from what has become a flood of defecting Syrian military forces.

Closer to home, the Palestinian Authority signed a deal in early February with the rival Muslim fundamentalist Hamas movement to establish a "national unity government" proposal that had already been supposedly agreed upon and then thwarted several times over the past few years. Under the terms of the latest agreement, PA President Mahmoud Abbas would retain his current position as overall PA leader and also assume the role of Prime Minister. Many junior Hamas officials cried foul over the deal, initialed between Abbas and senior Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, who moved his office out of Damascus during the month. Later Abbas provided more fuel to hard-line opponents of the unity pact when he claimed Hamas had agreed to recognize all previous international agreements entered into by the PA, including the PLO's 1993 Oslo peace accord with Israel. Senior Hamas officials denied this, stating once again they would never recognize the existence of a Jewish-run state in the mostly Muslim Middle East.

Fresh rocket assaults were launched upon Israeli civilian centres during February from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, provoking IDF military responses on several occasions. Meanwhile security officials announced late in the month that they had prevented a planned terror attack from the Sinai Peninsula, the scene of the last major terrorist assault against Israeli civilians near the southern port city of Eilat last August. Arabs in Jerusalem clashed with Israeli security forces late in the month. North of the city, a Palestinian school bus was struck by a vehicle driven by an Arab-Israeli man, killing eight children and wounding over 30 others. The tragic accident came as heavy rain and snow blanketed most of Israel, helping to somewhat alleviate the prolonged drought that has plagued the region for several years.

Terror Attacks In India And Georgia

As tensions continued to mount between Israel and Iran, terrorists attempted to murder the wife of an Israeli diplomat in the Indian capital city of New Delhi on February 13. The victim, 40 year old Tal Yehoshua Koren, sustained serious spinal wounds in the car bomb attack soon after dropping her children off at a nearby school. She is the wife of the defense attaché at the Israeli embassy in the city. Her brother told Israeli media outlets that a terrorist on a motorcycle drove up to her embassy vehicle at a stoplight and attached a magnetic bomb to it. An explosion rocked the car seconds later. After undergoing extensive surgery in New Delhi, the wounded victim was later flown back to Israel for further treatment at a hospital in Tel Aviv.

Earlier the same day, a similar terrorist device was placed on the car of an Israeli embassy employee in Tblisi, the capital of the country of Georgia. However the local Georgian man heard the sound of scraping metal that the device was making as it rubbed against the pavement, and stopped in time for local police sappers to come and safely defuse the bomb. As in India, the attempted bombing received extensive media coverage in the country. Both India and Georgia enjoy friendly relations and strong business ties with Israel.

Addressing the Israeli Knesset that evening, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said "Iran, and its proxy Hizbullah force, were behind these attacks," adding that the Shiite regime "is the largest exporter of terror in the world." Indian officials later confirmed that "foreign agents" had carried out the assault in New Delhi. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman warned that, "We will not take these attacks lying down."

The very next day, an Iranian terrorist ring was apprehended in the Thai capital city of Bangkok. The action came after several explosions went off in a crowded Bangkok residential district, injuring five people. Local police officials said the first blast occurred at a house rented by three Iranian nationals, who fled their residence after a cache of homemade bombs apparently accidentally ignited. One of the three injured Iranians then attempted to hail a passing taxi, which sped from the blast scene, prompting him to hurl a hand grenade at the vehicle. He later threw another grenade at a police car that rushed to the scene. However the explosive device bounced back toward him, blowing off one of his legs and severely injuring the other one, which was later amputated. Thai police subsequently found two unexploded magnetic devices inside of the partially ruined home, saying they were identical to the ones deployed in India and Georgia. Israeli officials rapidly placed all of their embassies and other properties around the world on high security alert, while warning Israeli tourists traveling abroad to be on guard against additional Iranian and Lebanese Hizbullah terrorist actions.

Israel To Strike Iran This Spring?

Amid the wave of apparent Iranian terrorist assaults, news reports swirled round the world during February concerning the likelihood of a pending Israeli military attack upon Iran's sprawling nuclear facilities. The reports began the second day of the month when the Washington Post newspaper ran an article by veteran columnist David Ignatius, then in Brussels with visiting American Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. The senior US official had traveled to the Belgium capital city to discuss the growing crisis with Iran, and other hot topics, with his European Union counterparts. Ignatius wrote that "Panetta believes there is a strong likelihood that Israel will strike Iran in April, May or June - before Iran enters what Israelis described as a 'zone of immunity' to commence building a nuclear bomb." The Atlanta-based CNN cable network confirmed the comments attributed to the traveling US defense official, who assumed his post last July after serving since 2009 as director of the CIA.

Without citing his sources, Ignatius wrote that, "Very soon, the Israelis fear, the Iranians will have stored enough enriched uranium in deep underground facilities to make a weapon - and only the United States could then stop them militarily." Iranian officials announced last year that they planned to move their uranium enrichment centrifuges to hardened bunkers deep inside mountains near the Shiite Iranian holy city of Qom, nearly 100 miles southwest of Tehran. Security experts say the ongoing centrifuge transfer is scheduled to be completed by this coming June.