⢠Al Jazeera
Al-Jazeera is a propaganda tool. It is not used to give news, but to promote an extremist political agenda. The news stories aired by the network are full of incitement with no regard for the truth.
Al Jazeera belongs to the Emir of Qatar, who is an ally of Teheran and Damascus. The Emir of Qatar considers himself affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood, but he is also fascinated by pan-Arabism. It should be noted that Hamas allowed Al-Jazeera into Gaza, but not the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya, which has a strong anti-Iran editorial line.
Other Arab countries already took measures against the Qatari channel. In 2007, the Algerian press defined Al-Jazeera a terrorist tool in the hands of Al-Qaeda. In 2008, Moroccan authorities banned Al Jazeera television from broadcasting a news program on North Africa from its studios in Morocco. A few months before, Ethiopia's government announced that it was breaking off relations with Qatar, due to Al-Jazeera’s misleading coverage. Al-Jazeera is also one of the main causes of anti-Americanism in the Middle East and has now become the spokesperson of Hamas. Israel should immediately follow their example and close down the network office in Jerusalem.
⢠Iran
Iran needs Hamas. In the summer 2006, Iran needed Hezbollah to attack Israel, in order to create a regional crisis that could divert the attention from its nuclear program. Now, Iran needs Hamas to create another crisis for two reasons: to continue its nuclear program and to increase the oil price.
When Khaled Masha’al declared on TV from Damascus that the ceasefire with Israel officially ended - even though Hamas has never respected it - the Hamas leadership in Gaza was unaware of the decision, and after acknowledging the news, Ismail Haniya, who is in Gaza, did not seem to be very happy. Haniya knows that he can be a target of the Israeli Army, on the contrary of Masha’al who lives in Syria. However, money talks and Hamas obeyed to the orders of Iran, which is financing the group.
Some Western media said that Israel’s reaction to the break of the ceasefire was disproportionate. This is an odd statement. Israel, as a democratic State, has to respond military to Hamas’ attacks. To respond “proportionately” would mean that Israel should use the same means that Hamas is using: launching rockets into Gaza and send suicide bombers. The Israeli military operation was instead prepared to target Hamas militias and leadership, without having many Palestinian civilian losses.
⢠The Arab “Street”
For the first time, the Arab States are not united against Israel. Actually, Arab regimes want the end of Hamas. In particular, Egypt and Saudi Arabia are afraid of a possible Iranian hegemony in the region. Furthermore, Nasrallah, “Iran’s man”, called on Egypt's residents and the Egyptian military to rebel against the Egyptian regime, and the Iranian Justice-Seeking Students organization announced that a one million dollar reward has been offered to whoever assassinates the "criminal" Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
However, as much as much as the Arab regimes are against Hamas, the Arab “street” is daily inflamed against Israel by the Qatari TV channel Al-Jazeera.
⢠Turkey
The ruling AK Party of Turkey has strengthened its relations with Iran and Syria, but most importantly the AKP has “Ottoman” ambitions in the region. Few days ago, PM Tayyip Erdogan, said that he was speaking as the descendant of the Islamic Ottoman state, condemned the Israeli strike as "savagery," and asked, "What reason can justify such savagery?". The Turkish newspaper “Vatan” condemned the Arab States for having a mild position towards Israel and stressed that the only leaders to have a firm standing in the last days are Erdogan, Ahmadinejad and Qaddafi, Turkey also tried to use Gaza as a pretext to become a regional player in bringing a ceasefire, while using an inflammatory language against Israel.
Many in the West and not only in the East - with CNN in the frontline - seem waiting for Israel to fail. But a victory for Hamas, would not just mean that Israel lost, but that the entire world did. If Hamas wins, Iran wins, and we don’t want to know what will await us next.
