Iran as a Last refuge of Regional and other Scoundrels……….
“Gabi Ashkenazi, the chief of Israel’s armed forces, warned this week that the country will maintain its naval siege on the Gaza Strip to prevent it from turning into an ‘Iranian port’. On the face of it, Mr Ashkenazi was alluding to Israel’s fear that Iran will try to ship Hamas, the Islamic group that rules Gaza, rockets and other armaments should the maritime blockade be lifted. But Mr Ashkenazi, like many other Israeli political and military leaders, was probably also aiming his words at the Israeli public and its deep-seated fear of Iran as a way of drawing popular domestic support for Israel’s restrictions on the impoverished Palestinian enclave. Indeed, Mr Ashkenazi is just the latest top Israeli official to fan more fears of Tehran throughout a society already saturated in so-called Iranophobia………Haggai Ram, an Iran specialist at Ben-Gurion University in southern Israel, said: “Placing Gaza under a dark and ominous Iranian shadow allows Israel to commit the atrocities that it has committed in Gaza.” ……”
Not to belittle some of the outrageous statements of Ahmadinejad and the recent resort to oppressive measures by Iranian authorities. However, bashing Iran has also become a cheap way for many Middle East regimes, including Israel, to gain support in the West, especially in the USA and to divert attention from domestic problems. You can say that Mr. Ahmadinejad is one of the assets that Israelis, American hawks, and Arab despots find very useful and may not be able to replace. Even the hapless sheriff of Ramallah, Mahmoud Abbas who lost the election to Hamas, has blamed Iran for his thumping during the battles for control of Gaza.
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mhg
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