More On Yesterday's Rocket Attack
Yesterday's rocket assault from Sinai, which killed one Jordanian in Aqaba and wounded three others, was assumed by many to have been intended solely for Israel. (One rocket landed in an open area in Eilat, causing no damage.) As it turns out, Jordan was probably also a target. Haaretz reports this morning that Global Jihad appears to have been behind the attack, and "[t]hey consider the Hashemite kingdom to be as legitimate a target as Israel, if not more so."
The threat of Islamist terror is not new to Jordan: in 2005, three suicide bombers blew themselves up simultaneously at hotels in Amman, killing over 50 and wounding over 100. (One of the bombers detonated himself in the middle of a wedding party.) Mutual concern over Islamist terror has led to closer security and intelligence cooperation between Jordan and Israel that has saved lives in both countries. (This cooperation continues despite the cooling of relations over the past year.)
Haaretz makes the point that while Egypt is protesting vociferously that yesterday's attack couldn't possibly have been launched from Sinai, Hamas regularly smuggles weapons from Global Jihad in Sinai into Gaza, including Grad missiles. Haaretz adds that "Global Jihad activists have come to the Gaza Strip, trained there, armed themselves and returned to Sinai to commit acts of terror against tourist targets in Sinai and elsewhere in Egypt." The great might of the Egyptian security force does not appear to be inhibiting any elements of this cultural exchange.
I'll note in passing that not all of the radical Islamic groups in Gaza that are receiving arms from Sinai are friends of Hamas. One of them, Jund Ansar Allah (Warriors of God), unilaterally declared an Islamic emirate in Gaza last year, resulting in a bloody gun battle with Hamas in Rafah. They, and several other Islamist groups in Gaza, affiliate themselves not with Hamas or even with the Palestinians. They are about Global Jihad: Islam über alles. And even Hamas has the sense to be nervous.
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Comments :
Jun '10
Re: More On Yesterday's Rocket Attack
What Israel has going for it is, it never operates out of hate. If you're always seeking common ground (as with Jordan,) you win by addition. History will be on your side, even if today's leftwing press is not. If you hate, or betray your allies, you end up self-destructing, as groups like Global Jihad will do. Evil destroys itself, always. Unfortunately, with a lot of collateral damage sometimes.