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Iran's Involvement in the Oct. 7 Massacre
(Jerusalem Center for Foreign Affairs) Dr. Dan Diker - The Oct. 7, 2023, atrocities revealed an Iranian campaign to destroy Israel in a war of attrition, both militarily and by its campaign of international political and psychological warfare. The regime was deeply involved in the planning and execution of Hamas's massacre and hostage-taking. Iran's subsequent missile and drone attack on Israel on April 14, 2024, proved Iran plans to make good on its long-stated intention of dominating the Middle East and, ultimately, the rest of the world, under a nuclear umbrella. Iran has also been deeply involved in influencing U.S. and Arab public opinion through perception warfare on media and social networks. According to Matthew Levitt, a former senior counterterrorism official at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Hamas began receiving Iranian regime funding in 1987. In 2017, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar confirmed that Iran was Hamas's "largest backer financially and militarily." Iran's policies and motivation to eliminate Israel are ideological and religiously driven. Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has invoked the Iranian Shiite "end of days" belief that the destruction of Israel and the Jews would trigger the emergence of the Mahdi, the Shiite messiah. The Palestinian cause provides a cover for Iran's greater ambitions in the region. In the Iranian mullahs' view, solidarity means providing weapons and training for martyrs - those who willingly sacrifice themselves for jihad. Hamas's use of human shields is an expression of the disposability of human life that the Iranian regime encourages. This renders the Palestinian issue a weapon for Iranian supremacy, not subject to political or territorial compromise between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The writer is president of the Jerusalem Center for Foreign Affairs.