Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Sunday drew a clear line regarding Israel's future approach toward Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps. His statement that Israel will continue to act against the organization regardless of the American decision to remove it from its foreign terrorist organization blacklist is not only an open criticism of Washington and its intentions, but also a public declaration that the clandestine and open war between the Jewish state and the Islamic republic will continue, and potentially escalate in the future.
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The American decision is a disturbing mix of naivety, narrow vision, lack of understanding of the region, and trusting those who should not be trusted. It is even more disturbing that this move is pursued contrary to the position of the professional echelon in the United States, the US military, and all intelligence agencies, which are well versed in Iranian actions and plans, and consider it to be the source of all evil in the region. Outgoing US CENTCOM chief Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie even said recently that "Iran poses the biggest threat to regional security."
The Biden administration's inclination to remove the IRGC from the US terror blacklist is further evidence of America's fatigue from what is happening in the Middle East and it intends to further withdraw from it, following their hasty exit from Afghanistan.
Equally as bad, is the administration's rush to ink a new nuclear deal with Iran at any cost. All that remains from the pledge to reach a "longer and stronger" deal is the original agreement, but with stipulations and provisions that are worse than those reached in 2015. Little time remains before the original deal expires and once it does, Iran will have a direct route to an atomic bomb, with the blessing of the world.
The Americans strongly argue that they will not allow Iran to become a nuclear state. But with all the desire to believe them, it is a commitment that has not yet stood the test of time. The Iranians' actions, on the other hand, are evident daily: from their systematic and blatant violation of the 2015 nuclear deal, to the terrorism the Revolutionary Guards spreads via the Quds Force – its extraterritorial black-ops arm – across the Middle East and beyond.
The Americans have been the main target of this terrorism more than once, mainly in Iraq, by Shiite militias doing the ayatollahs' bidding. At times it is clear who the culprit is and at times US intelligence knows how to pinpoint the source of terrorism, but the bottom line remains the same, and so does the overall goal: to make life miserable for the US and drive it out of the region so it does not to interfere with Iran's expansion plans.
Washington is well aware of all of what it happening and also often takes an active part in the efforts to foil Iranian terror plots, in operational and intelligence collaborations with its many friends in the region, chief among them Israel. Its willingness to continue to do so in the future while at the same time defining the perpetrator of terrorism as non-terrorist, is the type of verbal zigzag that spells a rude awakening.
Israel is wise not to agree to this charade. Unlike with the nuclear deal, where the Iranians have every reason to comply with the detailed provision because the rewards would be great, it is clear that they will never cease sponsoring terrorism. History has taught us that Iran's word on the matter is worthless and that be it directly or by proxy – Tehran will continue to harass its regional rivals, especially Israel and the United States.
This will require Israel to step up its actions against the IRGC. Washington may not always appreciate Israel's methods – especially if it happens to place American troops in harm's way – but Israel has to do its own math.
With the Iranians constantly seeking to make Israel's life miserable they leave Israel with only one option – to be proactive and fight them first, both to foil terrorist plots and generate deterrence.
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