Iran Helped Hamas "Plot Israel Attack Over Several Weeks", Gave Green Light: Report Claims | CLIP

As I'm sure you are fully aware, over the weekend, a full-on kinetic war broke out between Israel and Hamas. This came right after a surprise attack by Hamas militants, who launched thousands of rockets into Israel and at the same time penetrated Israel's territory, killing likely thousands of people. Now, there are many videos online right now, which break down the conflict point by point, including how the initial attack was carried out by Hamas, and then the subsequent counter-attack that's currently being waged by the IDF, the Israeli Defense Forces. And so in this episode, instead of breaking down the kinetic warfare, let's instead explore some of the machinations that were playing themselves out behind the scenes, specifically in regards to the role that Iran played in orchestrating these events. It's not a secret that Iran has been backing Hamas for many, many, many years now, despite the fact that Iran is ruled by a Shia Muslim regime, and Hamas is a Sunni Muslim fundamentalist organization. In this particular case, it doesn't seem to matter. Iran has been backing Hamas in their fight against Israel for decades now, with some estimates by the way, showing that the Iranian regime sends Hamas somewhere around $100 million per year, which is then used for weapons, training, and just general funding. Now, there have been some infighting between Hamas and the Iranian regime during the Syrian Civil War, but that was a relatively short period of time, and generally, Iran has been a staunch supporter of Hamas in their fight against Israel. And this latest attack, well, it appears to be no different. Although, right at this moment when you have the fog of war, the level of involvement that Iran actually had in this attack, well, it depends on who you ask. And so, on the one side, you have senior members of both Hamas and Hezbollah, who spoke with the Wall Street Journal, and they said the following, quote, Iranian security officials helped plan Hamas' Saturday surprise attack on Israel and gave the green light for the assault at a meeting in Beirut last Monday. Officers of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had worked with Hamas since August to devise the air, land, and sea incursions, the most significant breach of Israel's borders since the 1973 Yom Kippur War. And this, frankly, would make sense, because it's potentially this Iranian involvement in the planning process, going all the way back to at least last August, which might help to explain why this assault, which was multifaceted and very tightly coordinated, flew completely under the radar of Israel's intelligence agencies. The article continues, quote, Details of the operation were refined during several meetings over in Beirut attended by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officers and representatives of four Iran-backed militant groups, including Hamas, which holds power in Gaza, and Hezbollah, a Shiite militant group and political faction in Lebanon. And so, according to these senior officials from within both Hamas and Hezbollah, Iran was heavily involved in the planning process leading up to the surprise attack over the weekend, with several in-person meetings taking place over in the capital city of Lebanon, which is Beirut, between Iranian military officials and representatives of both Hamas and Hezbollah. And this account of theirs, it was substantiated by both a European official as well as an advisor to the government of Syria. Also, when speaking on this particular subject just yesterday, you had Israel's ambassador to the United Nations say the following, quote, We know that there were meetings in Syria and in Lebanon with other leaders of the terror armies that surround Israel, so obviously it's easy to understand that they tried to coordinate. The proxies of Iran in our region, they tried to be coordinated as much as possible with Iran. However, this behind-the-curtain Iranian involvement is actually publicly being denied by all the actors involved, except for Israel. For their part, Mr. Mohammad Merdawi, who is a representative of Hamas, he said that they planned the attacks on their own, and he added that, quote, This is a Palestinian and Hamas decision. Likewise, you had the spokesman for the Iranian mission over at the United Nations say that while Iran supports the actions of the Palestinians, they did not actually direct them. Here was his statement specifically, quote, The decisions made by the Palestinian resistance are fiercely autonomous and unwaveringly aligned with the legitimate interests of the Palestinian people. We are not involved in Palestine's response as it is taken solely by Palestine itself. However, these statements from the Iranian government should very obviously be taken with a grain of salt because, well, it's to their benefit to fly under the radar in terms of their actual involvement. The current Iranian regime, they very openly wish death to Israel, but in the eyes of the international community, well, it's to their benefit to deny any direct involvement with the most recent attacks. Although it is really worth mentioning that denying involvement, well, it did not stop the Iranian government from publicly celebrating the attacks against Israel over on their state TV stations. Take a look. So that's that. However, more interestingly, just yesterday, you had the Biden administration's State Department come out, and they also denied any knowledge of Iran's involvement. In fact, just yesterday, you had the Biden administration's Secretary of State, Mr. Anthony Blinken. He was on CNN, and he said this regarding Iran, quote, We have not yet seen evidence that Iran directed or was behind this particular attack, but there is certainly a long relationship. However, it's worth mentioning that this statement from Mr. Blinken should also be taken with a grain of salt because it's in the Biden administration's best political interest right now to not have Iran be directly involved in this surprise attack. That's because if Iran is indeed behind this attack, it creates a political quagmire for Joe Biden ahead of the upcoming presidential election, given the fact that this attack took place just a few weeks after he released $6 billion to the Iranian government. Although that money requires a little bit of backstory. Back in August of this year, Joe Biden, secretly, without the authorization of the U.S. Congress, he agreed to a special deal with the Iranian regime. It was a prisoner swap wherein Iran would return five Americans who are being held prisoner while the U.S. would return six Iranian prisoners back to Iran. That seems fair enough. However, in addition to this prisoner swap, somehow, Joe Biden also agreed to release $6 billion worth of controlled funding back to Iran. Because you see, Iran had this $6 billion sitting over in a bank in South Korea. However, because of American sanctions, the U.S. put pressure on South Korea to freeze those funds. The government of South Korea complied, and they made those funds inaccessible to the Iranian regime. But somehow, during this negotiation process, Iranian officials, they convinced the Biden administration to unfreeze those funds so that they could be used for humanitarian purposes. And they did. The money was unfrozen, and it was sent over to an account in Qatar to be used by Iran. And wouldn't you know it, just about a month later, you have this attack over in Israel. But here's where things get a little bit tricky. Because even though the terms of the deal demand that this money be used by Iran strictly for humanitarian purposes, well, you had the Iranian president recently come out after the deal was done, and he said that the money will be spent on whatever they want. Here's specifically what the Iranian president said regarding this $6 billion. Quote, This money belongs to the Iranian people, the Iranian government. So the Islamic Republic of Iran will decide what to do with this money. Humanitarian means whatever the Iranian people need. So this money will be budgeted for those needs, and the needs of the Iranian people will be decided and determined by the Iranian government.