The Gates of Hell

We mentioned on Tuesday that Hamas's attack disrupted the process that envisioned Arab-Israeli rapprochement, first through the Abraham Accords and then through the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor project, thereby stating that Iran had spoiled the game the US was trying to set up in the region.

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We had set an appointment for today to seek the answer to the question of what will happen the day after tomorrow.

Without further ado, let us list our questions immediately.

Since it is impossible to think that Iran would sit idly by against the US efforts to bring Israel closer to Arab countries and watch the formation of a strong front against itself without doing anything, what kind of "contingency planning" was done in Washington?

In other words, what could the US have planned against this strategic move by Iran?

In a sense, did the US want to create the "legitimate" ground to transform the Middle East as it wishes and permanently by pushing Iran to make this move?

Let us ask more clearly...

Can the US, citing Hamas's attacks as a pretext, pounce on Iran by saying "You are behind this"?

Can it strike Iran?

Can it even go further and use tactical nuclear weapons?

If one may use the expression, this is where the rubber meets the road!

When we consider that after September 11, the US recklessly invaded first Afghanistan and then Iraq, and after 2011, it spared no effort to change the regimes of countries in the Middle East and North Africa under the name of the "Arab Spring," it is not very possible to say "Those in Washington would not dare to go this far"!

If the US attempts to strike Iran one way or another, or tries to do so through Israel, it must be stated clearly that the gates of hell will open not just for the Middle East, but for the entire world.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's words, "The response we will give to Hamas will completely change the Middle East," naturally bring Iran to mind first!

It is also possible to consider these words as part of the psychological warfare against Hamas.

However, the fact that the US has sent an aircraft carrier fleet to the Mediterranean, activated F-35 jets, and pledged to provide all kinds of military support to Israel is likely not a good sign!

On the other hand, it will be inevitable that the de facto state of war currently being experienced will trigger the transformation process that global powers have designed in the Middle East.

Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Turkey will be affected by this process.

Leaving the answer to the question "What should Turkey do?" for another article, let us continue.

In this process, Iran stands out more as a critical element!

For the US, Iran's shell needs to be broken in order to "act in the Middle East as if walking through a village without dogs and sticks."

Those interested in regional or global politics know very well that Iran does not resemble Afghanistan, Iraq, the monarchies ruled by kings in the Middle East, or the tribal states in North Africa.

We are talking about a country with a thousand-year-old state tradition, backed by two superpowers like Russia and China, where, despite its heavy problems, the Shiite faith acts almost like glue, bonding the country's fragile social fault lines, and which has a say in the oil market with its hydrocarbon reserves.

It cannot be said that pinning hopes on regime opponents in Iran or Turks in South Azerbaijan is very wise. We have witnessed many times to date how the Iranian society stands as one body against external threats.

Here, let us also emphasize that the US is not "omnipotent."

It is worth remembering that it caused the bloodshed of hundreds of thousands of people in Vietnam and Afghanistan, and retreated without even looking back when it could not succeed.

For today, we may not be able to speak of a Third World War, but if the US attempts to strike Iran, either alone or together with Israel, that is when the gates of hell will open and the Third World War will have begun.

* * * * *

Since the beginning of the crisis, answers have been sought for a series of important questions.

How did Mossad and Shin Bet fail to receive advance notice of such a massive attack?

While such comprehensive weapon systems and missiles were being smuggled into Gaza, was Israeli intelligence asleep?

Let's say, "Mossad was in a deep slumber." Did the US, Russian, and Chinese intelligence services also not notice?

How did Mossad and the CIA, which monitor all maritime traffic of Iran, miss the activity directed at Gaza?

Under normal conditions, while every country's security unit shows sensitivity by taking extra precautions on the anniversary of any event, why did Israeli security forces turn a blind eye on the anniversary of the 1973 war?

Opening a brief parenthesis here, let us recall that the sensitivity in Israel regarding Iran is at the level of social paranoia, and after citing the maxim "Just because we are paranoid does not mean we are not being followed," let us continue.

Let's say there is an intelligence weakness; how was the Gaza border so easily breached after the Hamas attack began? Had the border troops and police forces gone to watch a match?

At this point, perhaps the most important question was raised by the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronot:

The newspaper's following statements carry the quality of a historical record:

"About 10 days before Hamas's surprise attack on Israel, Egyptian Intelligence Minister General Abbas Kamel called Prime Minister Netanyahu and warned him about an 'unusual, terrible operation' to be carried out from the direction of Gaza. A senior official from Egyptian intelligence also said that 'Kamel was surprised by the indifference shown by Netanyahu.'"

Did Netanyahu not take this warning into account?

Or did he think, "Let them come first, we'll find a way to deal with it"!

Or was this attitude of Netanyahu part of a big and dirty game?

Saying "One cannot have an opinion without having knowledge," I called a name who worked in the security bureaucracy in Ankara for many years.

The notes I took from what he said are as follows:

- Netanyahu corrupted not only politics but also the bureaucracy in Israel. The incompetence of his religious government partners caused gaps to open in the security system.

- The security bureaucracy never got along with Netanyahu from the very first day. The bureaucracy was very unhappy with the far-right government partners. In fact, some names in the security bureaucracy were going on television and openly criticizing the government.

- Until a while ago, Israel was a country that formed and implemented policy with collective wisdom. Netanyahu eliminated this. The Israeli people, whose culture of cooperation and solidarity was engraved in their social codes, became polarized and divided. This caused a security weakness from A to Z.

- From the beginning, Netanyahu always approached the information brought by the state's official intelligence with distance. He fell into the delusion that this information created a ground for removing him from power.

- The Israeli Prime Minister's ambivalent attitude caused major errors in the analysis of incoming intelligence.

- It is not possible for Mossad to have overlooked such activity, to have missed it. Even if a mistake was made in human intelligence, the activity in Hamas could have been understood with the data provided by electronic intelligence.

- Failures in intelligence activities are far more numerous than successes. However, the public relations activity that Mossad and the CIA have been conducting through Hollywood for many years has created a perception on a global scale about these two intelligence organizations that has little connection with reality. The legend created due to this perception has detached the perspectives on Mossad from reality.

It is also possible that Netanyahu had all this information in his hands. Perhaps he thought, "Hamas would not dare to carry out such a large-scale attack"!

In the end, all of these had a multiplier effect on each other, and an incredible security weakness emerged.

As a result, Hamas dealt Israel perhaps the biggest blow in its history.

Even if the allegations/conspiracy theories that Mossad turned a blind eye to such an attack in order for Israel to eliminate Hamas with a legitimate pretext are completely invalid, it would be naive to think that Netanyahu would not want to benefit from the consequences of this situation.

Finally, the most critical question:

- Considering the AKP's closeness with Hamas through the Muslim Brotherhood and the fact that the MIT (Turkish Intelligence Organization) also has a strong intelligence network in the region, could Turkey have been aware of such an attack preparation?

Unfortunately, I did not receive an answer to this question.

However, drawing attention to the fact that even the answers not given to some questions carry the quality of an answer, let us put a period to our article.