Seven Iranian backed terrorists were killed and eleven were injured in an Israeli Defense forces (IDF) assault on a recently discovered tunnel in Gaza. An Islamic Jihad commander and his deputy were killed in the explosion along with a Hamas commander.
In describing the attack, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman stated: “the recently built tunnel proves that despite the Palestinian reconciliation, the Gaza Strip remains a kingdom of terrorism. As far as we’re concerned, the responsibility (for the tunnel—ed) is without a doubt that of Hamas, which rules Gaza.” Gaza is fertile ground for training terrorists and launching terror attacks and has been identified as one of the areas where defeated ISIS fighters are regrouping after their territorial losses in Syria and Iraq. ISIS, who identifies with neither Shi’as or Sunnis, has long criticized Hamas’ enforcement of Sharia law, and some Hamas fighters have defected to ISIS over the years. Hamas, along with Hezbollah and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) are all Shi’a based and represent an ongoing threat to the State of Israel and all have strong ties to Iran through funding, weapons and training. Iran has publicly called for the destruction of Israel.
Iranian backed Hezbollah is a transnational terrorist organization that represents a threat not only to Israel but to the United States as well. In June, two Hezbollah terroists were arrested in the United States in a plan to carry out attacks in New York and Panama.
This current threat neutralized by Israel and the (IDF) demonstrates the ongoing challenges that Israel faces on a daily basis from its shared borders. They are proactive in fighting terrorists as soon as they are identified.
In light of the rise of Islamic terrorism in Europe and most recently the October 31, 2017 vehicle borne attack in New York City, there is much that the United States and Europe can learn from Israel in how they confront the Islamic terrorist threat on a daily basis and how they eradicate terrorist networks and cells when intelligence exposes them. read more.