For years Israelis have worried that the international community would give up its efforts to contain the threat from Iran's militant regime and leave Israel to confront it alone. Israelis, who say muscular diplomatic sanctions are the best route, have maintained that despite Iran's specific taunts and threats against Israel, the danger posed by the Islamic Republic extends not only to the entire Middle East but far beyond. Just when it looked like Israel was about to fail in its efforts to convince the world about the dangers posed by Iran, the Iranian regime itself stepped in to help Israel make its case. When Iranian speedboats began harassing U.S. Navy ships in the Strait of Hormuz, it became clear that, with or without nuclear weapons, Iran can cause extraordinary pain to the entire world, sending oil prices sky high and leaving the planet's biggest oil producers unable to move their crude. That reminder from the busy sea lanes of the Persian Gulf could not have come at a more opportune time. When the National Intelligence Estimate took the wind out of plans to coordinate international sanctions to push Iran to stop nuclear enrichment, the news sent a chill through Israel. The NIE concluded "with moderate confidence" that Iran, for now, is not working to weaponize the enriched uranium it is producing. But Israelis know that Iran, with or without nuclear weapons, is already wreaking havoc. That view, incidentally, is shared by Palestinians in the West Bank. Just this week, officials from the Palestinian Authority warned that Iran, along with Syria, is working to overthrow the regime of PA President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank, and aiming to replace it with Hamas, which Iran is helping to arm, train, and encourage in its vow to reject compromise with Israel and ultimately seek its destruction.
Iran’s Hormuz Actions Help Israel Make its Case
