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Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel should not be seen as a strictly local event in one corner of the Middle East but rather as a piece of a global movement of authoritarian regimes and allies pushing more aggressively for power and attacking Western-style democracies.
That was one of the key messages Tuesday from Haim Koren, a scholar and longtime Israeli diplomat. He told an online forum sponsored by The Washington Times Foundation that the international axis of authoritarian regimes — China, Russia, Iran and North Korea — is becoming more overtly anti-Israel and essentially supporting the Oct. 7 attack that killed more than 1,200 civilians.
He made the blunt comments at a crucial moment in the conflict in the Middle East. Israel is bracing for a direct attack from Iran after an operation in Tehran last week killed Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ political leader.
The Palestinian militant group on Tuesday named Yahya Sinwar, its top official in Gaza who masterminded the Oct. 7 attacks, as its new leader. The provocative move could inflame tensions further and complicate U.S. hopes for a cease-fire.
Last month, China hosted leaders from Hamas and the rival Palestinian faction, the Fatah Party. The meeting could be evidence of Beijing’s evolution as a diplomatic power with influence in all theaters of the globe. The West largely dismissed it as an attempt to establish a postwar governing structure between the two hostile Palestinian camps in Gaza.
All of that, Mr. Koren said, is further proof that the Oct. 7 attack and its ripple effects have stretched far beyond Israel and the Gaza Strip.
“All of the sudden, the local attack of Hamas on Israel became global, due to the fact that it was supported by China, of course by Iran, and by Russia,” Mr. Koren told “The Washington Brief.”
“That means Hamas didn’t do anything without at least knowledge or guidance of Iran, first and foremost, and support for the first time, very active support of China and, of course, the support of Russia,” he said. “They’re all involved in the story.”
Enemy alliances
Iran made no secret of its support for the Hamas attack on Israel. It has long served as the primary financial backer of the group and other Israeli enemies, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement and Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
Mr. Koren, whose diplomatic career included a stint as Israel’s ambassador to Egypt, also spotlighted Russia and China. Both have been cultivating deeper economic and military ties with Iran and have used their powerful spots on the United Nations Security Council to block pro-Israel resolutions. Iran, Russia and China held major joint naval drills this year and showed other instances of military cooperation.
China has carefully worded its statements in the months since the Oct. 7 attack. It has called on all parties to refrain from violence but stopped miles short of the condemnation of Hamas voiced by the U.S. and some of its allies. The Chinese Foreign Ministry predicted that the operation that killed Haniyeh would further inflame the volatile situation in the region.
“China firmly opposes and condemns the act of assassination and is deeply concerned that the incident may plunge the region into greater turmoil. China has been calling for settling regional disputes through negotiation and dialogue and an early, comprehensive and permanent cease-fire in Gaza, and there should be no more escalation of the conflict and confrontation,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told reporters last week.
Mr. Koren also noted North Korea’s links to Hamas and Hezbollah.
“North Korea took part in the building of the tunnels of Hezbollah. And recently, we found a lot of the munitions in Gaza [came from] North Korea,” he said, pointing to public news accounts of North Korean links to the anti-Israel groups.
North Korea and Iran have provided drones and munitions to Russia for its war in Ukraine, further cementing the cooperation of those anti-democratic regimes and forming pieces of the web of alliances that could link Hamas to Moscow and Beijing.
The brightest spotlight is now on Tehran. U.S. officials fear that the theocratic Iranian regime may soon launch a second round of retaliatory attacks against Israel. Israeli and U.S. defenses stopped an April attack launched in response to an apparent Israeli strike in Syria that killed a top Iranian general. The next Iranian attack may be far worse, perhaps of a scale that overwhelms Israel’s state-of-the-art missile defenses.
The Jewish state also appears on the verge of a full-scale conflict with Hezbollah, which would create a two-front war that would stretch the Israel Defense Forces.
At Tuesday’s forum, Alexandre Mansourov, a professor at the Georgetown University Center for Security Studies, questioned whether the recent inauguration of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian — the reason Haniyeh was in Tehran — could have any effect on the Middle East powder keg. Mr. Pezeshkian has cast himself as something of a reformer and a political figure willing to perhaps reopen diplomatic channels with the West.
Mr. Koren said he doesn’t expect any changes beneath the surface in Tehran.
“I don’t believe they will change,” he said. “They will try to show [that] … ‘we are nice people. The Zionists are the problem, not us.’ They will do anything to make a nice image.”
Former CIA official Joseph DeTrani, who moderated Tuesday’s event, cited the growing alarm in national security circles about Iran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program.
“They’re really a threshold nuclear weapons state, and they’re moving in that direction,” he said.
Asked at what point Israel might take military action to stop the Iranian nuclear threat, Mr. Koren said any such decisions would made in consultation with Washington.
“We cannot go into any kind of activity against Iran without the U.S.,” he said.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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