Israeli officials are downplaying Iran’s responsibility for the eruption of violence in Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, despite their general perception of the regime as a malign force.
“I don’t have any intelligence that shows the direct connection of Iran now to the situation,” Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Lior Haiat told reporters Wednesday. “I don’t have this information at this moment.”
That statement suggests Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government does not regard the dueling fusillades of Palestinian rocket attacks and Israeli airstrikes as a proxy conflict with Iran. Still, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has pledged to support the Palestinians “more vigilantly and strongly,” according to Iranian media, in pursuit of the eradication of Israel.
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“The axis of resistance, led by the Quds Force … will liberate the land of Palestine from the claws of the evil regime,” Iranian parliament presiding board member Seyed Mohsen Dehnavi said in a statement. “Quds [Jerusalem] will be liberated by the Quds Force.”
The rocket attacks from Gaza have been launched not only by Hamas but an Iran-backed group called Islamic Jihad, whose participation has contributed to suspicions of Iran’s involvement. Israeli officials acknowledged Islamic Jihad’s general reliance on Iran, even while pushing Tehran to the margins of this particular crisis.
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“Iran is connected to the Islamic Jihad in its ideology and also in supporting their military infrastructure, terroristic infrastructure,” Haiat said. “So, although I would be very happy to talk about the threat of Iran and how Iran is a source of instability [in] the Middle East and all the bad things that they’re doing, I don’t think this is the right moment to do it.”
In any case, the crisis has heightened Israeli sensitivities about the potential for more advanced missile attacks from Lebanon.
“After several days of disorder on the streets of Jerusalem, Hamas has fired hundreds of rockets on Israel, targeting our capital Jerusalem, and houses on the outskirts of the city have been damaged,” Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said Wednesday, per the Times of Israel. “We are also looking north, to Iran’s northern proxy in our area — Hezbollah.”
