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Disrupting Palestinian Islamic Jihad a Smart Play by Israel
(The Hill) Enia Krivine - The Israel Defense Forces launched a military campaign Friday against Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), a U.S.-designated terrorist group, in Gaza. The Iran-aligned PIJ has held large swaths of the Israeli population hostage for the past four days by threatening attacks against Israel. PIJ leader Ziyad al-Nakhalah traveled to Tehran, where he met Wednesday with President Ebrahim Raisi. PIJ is heavily dependent on Iran for both financial and military support. These IDF operations are necessary not only to tamp down ongoing violence, but also to remove the most threatening players off the chess board. In so doing, the campaign ultimately advances stability in the region as well as U.S. and Israeli interests. The writer is senior director of the Israel Program and the National Security Network at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.