ESCALATION OR BUSINESS AS USUAL?

By now, nearly everyone realizes the Middle East is far from, "normal", with normal being periods of violence, separated by periods of harsh words. followed up by meaningless meetings... then back to periods of violence.

It's seems to be a timeless metaphor  when we hear, ' The Middle East is a Tinderbox'!!!

These are usually the overexerted words pouring out of the mouths of some "talking head"  looking for  a paycheck from one of the news programs.

Unfortunately, after years and years of hearing this redundant comment, it's probably truer than it has ever been.

Time and time again, I have talked about the danger of Iran picking a fight to keep the devastating loss of Syria, Hamas and Hezbollah from taking place.

In the past few months, the discussion of splits inside Hamas have been examined over and over and over....

Does Hamas split with part going into partnership with Abbas and the Muslim Brotherhood and the other more radical branch of Hamas staying the course with Iran and  Hezbollah?

Is it about true regligous beliefs and there splits inside Hamas or is it about young radicals who simply don't wont to give up the vision of killing Jews?

Two months ago, I made the statement Iran would rather see a split Hamas than lose their strategic location and dedication.

I commented that Iran doesn't need the whole Hamas organization, but they do need the radical slice.

Gilad Shalit was a key figure for Iran's slice of Hamas...

His ties to Lebanese Hezbollah were undeniable.

If Iran could live with a split Hamas, then members like Shalit were vital to Iran's plan.

No one understood this more than Israel.

So, why did they kill him now?

Why did they take the appearance of striking the first blow in a potential violent breakout event?

Why play into the hands of Iran by striking first?

Simple.....

Israel is not in the business of accepting causalities in order to prove to the world they were right about a pending threat!!!

A concept that must not be overlooked as Israel threatens to take action against Iran's Nuclear program.

Sometimes, the "message" is sent inside a smaller event, and this may be exactly what Israel is doing right now.

I am convinced that is just what happened!!

Is now a dangerous time for Israel to take such bold preemptive actions in Gaza?

Yes!!!

Is it possibly playing right into the  Iranian plan of forcing Israel to be the Aggressor???

Yes!!

Does Israel understand this risk?

Yes!!

In my viewpoint, Israel just sent the message to Iran...

To me, Israel's message was this; "If you think we will not become the aggressor for sake of world opinion... you are wrong... dangerously wrong"!!!

Gaza is more dangerous now than it has ever been, yet Israel sent a strong message..... NO... Israel sent a WARNING!!!

Lets see how Iran hears it..

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/03/201239191418231164.html

http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=261152