JERUSALEM — Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel and the war it launched has raised new questions about the influence of its main sponsor, Iran, and whether it had anything to do with the assault.
From Tel Aviv to Washington, however, no one is willing to directly blame Iran as they say they lack direct evidence. Tensions between the Islamic Republic and the West remain high over its rapidly advancing nuclear program. In Tehran, even its supreme leader has denied the country being involved while praising what he described as the “capable, smart and courageous” militants who killed more than 1,000 Israelis and for the first time took over 100 civilians and soldiers as hostages.
Yet the suspicion of Iranian involvement remains — and how it shakes out could threaten to morph what has been the most-shocking deadly attack on Israel in 50 years into a wider regional war that drags in the United States.
WHY IS THERE SUSPICION OF IRANIAN INVOLVEMENT?
Hamas grew out of the the first intifada, or Palestinian uprising, which was marked by widespread protests against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1987. Its name is an Arabic acronym for the Islamic Resistance Movement and an acknowledgment of its early ties to the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood. Sworn to Israel’s destruction, it has launched numerous suicide bombings and other attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers, leading Israel and other nations including the U.S. to describe it as a terrorist organization.
Although Sunni, it has grown increasingly close to the Mideast’s Shiite powerhouse, Iran. For Tehran, Hamas fits into a pattern it has followed since its 1979 Islamic Revolution of backing regional proxies as a hedge against the superior firepower of archenemy Israel and its main backer, the U.S.
Sunday’s attack showed a level of sophistication and scale so far unseen in previous Hamas attacks on Israel. Airborne militants flew into southern Israel on paragliders. Bomb-carrying drones…
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