Hamas Attack Aimed To Disrupt Saudi-Israel Normalization, Biden Says

On Friday, President of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen, who has traveled to Washington for a US-EU summit, raised the issue with US President Joe Biden.

“We must work actively to prevent regional escalation,” von der Leyen said, “I am particularly concerned about Iran and its proxies. We have all seen the incidents involving missiles and drones from Yemen potentially targeting Israel.”

Pentagon officials confirmed Friday that the American warship USS Carney intercepted 4 cruise missiles and 15 drones over a period of 9 hours in the Red Sea, all headed towards Israel reportedly.

Targeting Israel from a place as far as Yemen is yet another worrying sign that the Israel-Hamas conflict may very well escalate beyond Gaza.

Biden suggested on Friday that the aim of Hamas' attack on Oct. 7 was to disrupt the potential normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

Tensions run high, particularly since an explosion in a Gaza hospital for which Israel and Hamas blame one another. Arab leaders are anxious about the popular rage in their countries, created by the plight of Gazans.

Many fear that the war between Israel and Hamas may bring in other regional actors such as Hezbollah or Shi’a armed groups in Iraq.

German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock warned these groups to not enter the conflict. “I'm warning Iran,” she said during her trip to Israel, “I'm warning Shiite militias in Iraq, I'm warning the Houthi in Yemen not to ignite and join in the terror."

The biggest threat to Israel, however, is Hezbollah in Lebanon, which has been engaged in a relatively low-profile war with Israel for more than a week. The Group has reportedly amassed tens of thousands of rockets since Israel’s last attack on southern Lebanon in 2006.

Hezbollah’s shelling of northern Israel has forced the country’s Defense Ministry to preemptively evacuate around 20,000 of the border town of Kiryat Shmona.

There is little doubt that Hezbollah, Houthis, and other militant groups in the region are more emboldened than ever before. And more than a few in Washington and elsewhere are pinning the blame on President Biden for what they see as a cowed Iran policy.

Senator Tom Cotton, a vocal critic of the administration said Friday: “President Biden needs to make it crystal clear to Iran that we will treat any proxy attack on American targets as an attack by Iran itself and respond accordingly. Anything less invites more violence.”

In a rare speech from the Oval Office Thursday evening, President Biden asked for billions to be spent on the conflicts in Ukraine and Israel, but strikingly mentioned Iran only once.

Around the same time as Biden was addressing Americans, rockets hit a military base near Baghdad's international airport which hosts US troops and forces from other countries. Ironically, this was the day after a big chunk of UN sanctions on Iran –including on its missile program– expired under the terms of the 2015 Nuclear Deal.

“Biden has given Iran another gift by permitting a set of UN sanctions on Iran to expire, even after Iran and its terror proxies orchestrated a heinous attack massacring and kidnapping American and Israeli citizens,” said Ron DeSantis, Governor of Florida and 2024 Presidential Candidate.

In a lengthy post on X, DeSantis laid out six actions aimed at curbing the Iranian regime's influence, which include "imposing severe sanctions," "halting all clandestine negotiations and agreements," and "urging US allies to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization."

“America must turn the screws on the Mullahs,” he concluded.

Republicans on the Capitol have been mounting pressure on Biden for many months, especially since the ‘double scandal’ in September: the exposure of an Iran influence network and the $6 billion ransom to free five Iranian-American hostages held in Tehran.

On Thursday, Rep. Darrel Issa introduced a bill that would force the Biden administration to sanction Iran, according to Fox News. He hammered Biden for ‘systematically’ under-enforcing oil sanctions and freeing Iranian funds in Iraq.

“This comprehensive legislation marks a necessary course correction in American policy to treat Iran not as a strategic partner, but as the enemy they are," he said, calling his bill the No Funds for Iran-Backed Terror Act.

The measure was introduced Thursday. Republicans in the House have still yet to come to agreement to elect a new speaker after Rep. Kevin McCarthy was voted out from the post earlier this month.

The legislation cannot be considered until a new House speaker is elected.

God commanded Muslims to defend and protect the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the hardliner cleric said, and that means keeping “infidels” away from Jerusalem.

Alamolhoda is Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s representative in one of the most important Shiite cities, Mashhad, where a revered imam is buried. He is also the father-in-law of Ebrahim Raisi, who was handpicked by Khamenei to become president in 2021, simply by barring all other serious candidates from running, in what turned out to be a selection rather than an election.

One of the special characteristics of Palestine, he said, is that God defeats all infidels in the blessed land. “The Holy Essence proclaims that divine signs are manifest in the land of Palestine. Any atheist movement with intentions of trespassing and committing crimes in this land shall be annihilated.”

The hardline rhetoric comes even though Islam recognizes Jews and Christians as peoples of God, and not pagans. However, as signs emerge that many in Iran do not support the government’s policy of full financial and military backing for the militant groups, state propaganda intensifies.

Alamolhoda also drew parallels between the present day and the era of Crusaders, saying that Muslims were able to take back Jerusalem after Christian invaders occupied the land. He went on to boast that Iran’s regional proxies, such as the Lebanese Hezbollah and Iraqi Shiite militias are engaged in the conflict, emphasizing that Hezbollah has 100,000 precision missiles.

Khamenei’s trusted cleric said that all militant groups are ready to help Hamas, fighting against Israel and “destroying that cancerous cell.” He emphasized that these groups are not afraid of the United States.

In what appeared to be coordinated remarks by Friday Imams across the country, Khamenei’s appointed Imam in Fars province stated that "Hamas's attack on Israel was a defensive move accompanied by courage and heroism." He added, "We tell Israel's accomplices that resistance will not let you rest until the end of your era."

Tehran Friday Imam, Kazem Sedighi, praised Hamas’ attack and claimed that they did not kill any civilian and all 1,500 victims were Israeli soldiers.

The Imam in Gilan Province claimed that thousands of Revolutionary Guard, naval and other military forces have announced their readiness to go to Gaza and fight.

Many Iranians opposed to the Islamic Republic are mocking regime supporters, telling them to “please act according to your ideology and go to Gaza to fight.” Their message is that if regime supporters die in the war, the people of Iran will live in peace.

Hardline clerics also organized a gathering in the religious city of Qom, where it was claimed “youth from 100 countries” who were dubbed “lovers of fighting Israel” were present. Iranian media said that Bahrain’s Sheikh Isa Qassem, a pro-Iran Shiite cleric also attended.

A message from Khamenei’s foreign policy adviser Ali Akbar Velayati was read during the ceremony, which praised those ready to struggle for Palestine. Representatives of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad militant groups also attended.

Alireza Panahian, Khamenei’s chief of staff delivered remarks, saying that Hamas was “saving its energy for heavier blows against Israel.”

In remarks about the Hamas-Israel war, Zarif on Friday said that Israel had solidified its reputation as an invincible power amongst Palestinians, and the Arab and international community by carrying out aggressive actions.

“Israel’s fake image of resistance is now ruined. Israel’s barbaric actions is the reason for their continues defeat,” Zarif said.

Zarif, who negotiated the JCPOA nuclear accord with the United States in 2015 said that Israel has kept the Palestinians in a prison for 70 years.

In parts of his comments, Zarif spoke about IRGC’s notorious operator Qasem Soleimani and claimed that the debt the Middle East owes him for regional security.

As the commander of IRGC’s Quds extraterritorial force, Soleimani was the architect of Iran’s proxy warfare in the region, including his role in the Syrian civil war during which hundreds of thousands died. He was killed by a US drone attack in 2020. 

The former foreign minister said that European countries have been preaching about human right, but they are now supporting the killings of civilians in Gaza.

“The Europeans are gagged about Israel’s crimes,” Zarif said.

This is while Iran experienced several uprisings during Zarif’s term as foreign minister (2013-2021) where authorities killed and arrested tens of thousands of people for protesting.

Also, it was during Zarif’s tenure that the Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 was shot down by two air-defense missiles fired by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on January 8, 2020, shortly after taking off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport.

Hamas armed wing spokesman Abu Ubaida issued a statement announcing the release, the first since Hamas gunmen burst into Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,400 people, mainly civilians, and taking around 200 hostages. Some of the kidnapped Israelis are babies and small children whose exact fate remains unknown.

Ubaida said that the move was also intended to “send a message” to US President Joe Biden, who has staunchly supported Israel in the conflict. He stated that “the hostages were released in response to Qatari mediation efforts, "for humanitarian reasons, and to prove to the American people and the world that the claims made by Biden and his fascist administration are false and baseless".

Israel's Channel 13 News said Israel had confirmed the release of two hostages. An Israeli army statement earlier in the day said most of the hostages were alive.

The Hamas moves comes as Israel is ready to execute a ground offensive into Gaza with the stated aim of wiping out Hamas. Israeli Prime Minister’s adviser Mark Regev said, "So our working assumption has to be that they are waiting for us. That they are prepared for an Israeli assault. And our challenge will be to surprise them tactically on the ground, to catch them unaware."

As Israel has carried out nearly two weeks of a harsh bombing campaign before its ground operation, at least 4,137 Palestinians have been killed, including hundreds of children, and 13,000 wounded in Gaza, the Palestinian health ministry said.

At a press conference on Friday at the Frankfurt Book Fair, Rushdie spoke about the war in the Middle East and his fears that the conflict may escalate.

“I am filled with horror about the attack by Hamas. I’m filled with foreboding about what Netanyahu might do in return. I just hope that there can be a cessation in hostilities at the earliest point,” Rushdie said.

Rushdie is at the book fair to talk about his upcoming book “Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder” that will be published April 2024.

The memoir tells the story of his struggle with overcoming his traumatic experience of being attacked while on stage in the United States. In 2022, Rushdie was stabbed multiple times by a 24-year-old Hadi Matar with Islamist ties.

Iran has a historical involvement in threats against Rushdie due to Ayatollah Khomeini's 1989 fatwa against what he asserted were sacrilegious sections regarding Islam in Rushdie's novel, The Satanic Verses.

Experts suggest that Matar was possibly influenced by Hezbollah during his time in Lebanon and that this may have played a role in his attack. Iran has denied direct involvement but expressed support for the attack since it took place.

Rushdie lost sight in one eye after the attack and has been wearing a black lens over his right eye.

"It's obviously been a difficult year."

"But I'm happy to be back in reasonable health," added Rushdie, who is to receive the prestigious Peace Prize of the German Book Trade this week.