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Iran: The Arsonist of the Middle East
Unidentified men carrying a model of Iran’s first-ever hypersonic missile, Fattah, past a mosque during a gathering to celebrate a failed Iranian attack on Israel, in Tehran, Iran, on April 15, 2024. Photo: Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Reuters Connect
October 7, 2024, marked the one-year anniversary of the brutal attack by Hamas on Israel that killed 1,200 Israelis, Jews, and foreign citizens.
One year later, there are still 101 Israeli hostages being held by Hamas, and 60,000 Israelis are still displaced from their homes in northern Israel due to continual rocket fire from Hezbollah.
Enter the Islamic Republic of Iran — and its destructive role as the arsonist of the Middle East.
The Iranian regime — and its obsession with the destruction of Israel — have caused decades of destruction in the Middle East and around the world. Iran’s obsession is symbolized by the “countdown clock” in a square in Tehran, which predicts the destruction of Israel.
In 2015, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, predicted that after 25 years — by 2040 — Israel will no longer exist.
In order to achieve this goal, Iran supports terror proxies throughout the region, including Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and pro-Iranian militias in Syria and Iraq. Together, they are called “the Axis of Resistance” by Iranian leaders.
Iran’s military strategy toward Israel can be summed up in three words: “ring of fire.”
This refers to the efforts of Iran to provide rockets, missiles, and munitions to its terror proxies that are actively trained by Iran, in order to build a “ring of fire” around the State of Israel, which will ultimately bring about its destruction.
The Hamas onslaught on October 7 — and the constant Hezbollah rocket attacks since (alongside Houthi terrorism and the Hamas-instigated war in Gaza) are the consequences of Iran’s perverse strategy.
Since the war began in October 2023, we have seen this “ring of fire” activated in full force. This includes the firing of more than 12,000 rockets and drones from Hezbollah in Lebanon, more than 19,000 rockets from Hamas in Gaza, and hundreds of ballistic missiles from Iran itself, all being fired at civilians in Israel. In addition, the Houthis in Yemen have also fired more than 200 missiles and drones at Israel.
It’s also important to remember that Iran has done everything possible to sabotage the hopes for peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
With the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, there was a real hope for peace between Israelis and Palestinians through the two-state solution. Yet, Iran, the arsonist of the Middle East, refused to let that happen. Hamas and other Palestinian terror organizations, backed and largely funded by Iran, embarked on a campaign of terror to blow up those hopes for peace.
Between 1993 and 2005, Hamas and other proxy terror organizations carried out more than 150 suicide bombings in Israeli cities — on buses, in restaurants and in shopping malls — killing well over 1,000 Israeli civilians.
The leadership of Iran works actively throughout the Middle East to achieve its ambitions for the destruction of Israel. To that end, Iran is determined to maintain Syria as another base of operations against Israel.
The tragedy of the Syrian civil war is a prime example.
During the civil war in Syria that began in 2011, Iran provided extensive support to prop up the brutal dictator, Bashar al-Assad, a close ally of the Iranian regime.
Iran provided the Syrian regime with an endless supply of ammunition, weapons, billions of dollars in economic support, and tens of thousands of fighters from Hezbollah and other proxies.
The human cost of Iran’s support for the Syrian regime couldn’t be worse: more than 500,000 dead Syrians and the creation of more than five million refugees.
In an article published in The Atlantic in 2018, Middle East expert Karim Sadjadpour wrote:
Distilled to its essence, Tehran’s steadfast support for Assad is not driven by the geopolitical or financial interests of the Iranian nation, nor the religious convictions of the Islamic Republic, but by a visceral and seemingly inextinguishable hatred for the state of Israel.”
The time has come for the international community to clearly see the motivations that inform Iran’s behavior and to hold Iran accountable for its deadly agenda.
Until then, peace will remain a distant dream for both Israelis and Palestinians, with more unnecessary suffering to be played out for the people of the entire region.
Bob Feferman is Community Relations Director for the Jewish Federation of St. Joseph Valley in South Bend.
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Israel to Send Delegation to Qatar for Gaza Ceasefire Talks
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem, Sept. 2, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
Israel has decided to send a delegation to Qatar for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal, an Israeli official said, reviving hopes of a breakthrough in negotiations to end the almost 21-month war.
Palestinian group Hamas said on Friday it had responded to a US-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal in a “positive spirit,” a few days after US President Donald Trump said Israel had agreed “to the necessary conditions to finalize” a 60-day truce.
The Israeli negotiation delegation will fly to Qatar on Sunday, the Israeli official, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, told Reuters.
But in a sign of the potential challenges still facing the two sides, a Palestinian official from a militant group allied with Hamas said concerns remained over humanitarian aid, passage through the Rafah crossing in southern Israel to Egypt and clarity over a timetable for Israeli troop withdrawals.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is due to meet Trump in Washington on Monday, has yet to comment on Trump’s announcement, and in their public statements Hamas and Israel remain far apart.
Netanyahu has repeatedly said Hamas must be disarmed, a position the terrorist group, which is thought to be holding 20 living hostages, has so far refused to discuss.
Israeli media said on Friday that Israel had received and was reviewing Hamas’ response to the ceasefire proposal.
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Tucker Carlson Says to Air Interview with President of Iran
Tucker Carlson speaks on July 18, 2024 during the final day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Photo: Jasper Colt-USA TODAY via Reuters Connect
US conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson said in an online post on Saturday that he had conducted an interview with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, which would air in the next day or two.
Carlson said the interview was conducted remotely through a translator, and would be published as soon as it was edited, which “should be in a day or two.”
Carlson said he had stuck to simple questions in the interview, such as, “What is your goal? Do you seek war with the United States? Do you seek war with Israel?”
“There are all kinds of questions that I didn’t ask the president of Iran, particularly questions to which I knew I could get an not get an honest answer, such as, ‘was your nuclear program totally disabled by the bombing campaign by the US government a week and a half ago?’” he said.
Carlson also said he had made a third request in the past several months to interview Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will be visiting Washington next week for talks with US President Donald Trump.
Trump said on Friday he would discuss Iran with Netanyahu at the White House on Monday.
Trump said he believed Tehran’s nuclear program had been set back permanently by recent US strikes that followed Israel’s attacks on the country last month, although Iran could restart it at a different location.
Trump also said Iran had not agreed to inspections of its nuclear program or to give up enriching uranium. He said he would not allow Tehran to resume its nuclear program, adding that Iran did want to meet with him.
Pezeshkian said last month Iran does not intend to develop nuclear weapons but will pursue its right to nuclear energy and research.
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Hostage Families Reject Partial Gaza Seal, Demand Release of All Hostages
Demonstrators hold signs and pictures of hostages, as relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages kidnapped during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas protest demanding the release of all hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Itai Ron
i24 News – As Israeli leaders weigh the contours of a possible partial ceasefire deal with Hamas, the families of the 50 hostages still held in Gaza issued an impassioned public statement this weekend, condemning any agreement that would return only some of the abductees.
In a powerful message released Saturday, the Families Forum for the Return of Hostages denounced what they call the “beating system” and “cruel selection process,” which, they say, has left families trapped in unbearable uncertainty for 638 days—not knowing whether to hope for reunion or prepare for mourning.
The group warned that a phased or selective deal—rumored to be under discussion—would deepen their suffering and perpetuate injustice. Among the 50 hostages, 22 are believed to be alive, and 28 are presumed dead.
“Every family deserves answers and closure,” the Forum said. “Whether it is a return to embrace or a grave to mourn over—each is sacred.”
They accused the Israeli government of allowing political considerations to prevent a full agreement that could have brought all hostages—living and fallen—home long ago. “It is forbidden to conform to the dictates of Schindler-style lists,” the statement read, invoking a painful historical parallel.
“All of the abductees could have returned for rehabilitation or burial months ago, had the government chosen to act with courage.”
The call for a comprehensive deal comes just as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares for high-stakes talks in Washington and as indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas are expected to resume in Doha within the next 24 hours, according to regional media reports.
Hamas, for its part, issued a statement Friday confirming its readiness to begin immediate negotiations on the implementation of a ceasefire and hostage release framework.
The Forum emphasized that every day in captivity poses a mortal risk to the living hostages, and for the deceased, a danger of being lost forever. “The horror of selection does not spare any of us,” the statement said. “Enough with the separation and categories that deepen the pain of the families.”
In a planned public address near Begin Gate in Tel Aviv, families are gathering Saturday evening to demand that the Israeli government accept a full-release deal—what they describe as the only “moral and Zionist” path forward.
“We will return. We will avenge,” the Forum concluded. “This is the time to complete the mission.”
As of now, the Israeli government has not formally responded to Hamas’s latest statement.
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