Herb Keinon
Jerusalem Post, Aug. 7, 2022
“Hamas, not Islamic Jihad, has overall authority for the life of the citizens in Gaza. It wants to be the one to decide when to launch a campaign against Israel.”
The pictures coming out of Tehran the last few days went a long way toward explaining events in the South of Israel.
Here was Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s leader Ziyad al-Nakhaleh’s meeting on Wednesday with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabollahian. On Thursday, it was Nakhaleh’s meeting with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. And then on Saturday, after the beginning of Operation Breaking Dawn, a picture was released of him in a tête-à-tête with Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) head Hossein Salami.
Coincidence? Hardly.
Under Nakhaleh’s leadership, Islamic Jihad – whose founder Fathi Shikaki took his inspiration for establishing the organization in 1981 from Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and the 1979 Iranian Revolution – has turned into a fully owned and operated subsidiary of Iran.
While Iran and Islamic Jihad had a brief falling out in 2015-2016 over the Saudi campaign against the Houthis in Yemen, today Islamic Jihad is to Iran in Gaza what Hezbollah is to the Islamic Republic in Lebanon, and the Houthis are to the Iranians in Yemen.
Iran supports Hamas but it controls Islamic Jihad. There is a difference. To understand Islamic Jihad’s behavior over the past week, it is important to understand Iran’s interests. One need not be a brilliant Mideast strategist to understand them: cause Israel as much hurt as possible.