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Editorial

Essay

Bedouin
Red Flag

Scrutinize The Detail

In shadows of accord, Iran reinforces its disdain.

I

ranian hardliners show equal-
Inherent Risk
opportunity hatred toward Israel
The P5+1 agreement tilts toward delay-
and America.
ing, not dismantling, Iran's nuclear
Chants of "Death to
ambitions, while infusing
America" and "Death to Israel"
the Persian nation with
punctuated Iran's annual Al
near-immediate sanc-
Quds Day rallies. Al Quds
tions relief ostensibly
is Arabic for Jerusalem, the
to boost its struggling
Israeli city that is holy for Jews,
economy, but likely to
Christians and Muslims alike.
also support its terrorist
The government-organized,
proxies lurking in the
pro-Palestinian rallies, dating
region.
to the dark days of Ayatollah
Israel and the West
Rob ert Sklar
Ruhollah Khomeini's anti-
have every right to fear
Con tributing
Zionist reign decades ago, rep-
that Iran's Al Quds Day
Editor
resented a chilling hate-fest.
rhetoric could devolve
In the context of the new
into anti-Israel and anti-
provisional agreement between world
West violence perpetrated by guerilla
powers and Tehran limiting Iran's
supporters of the rant, whether or not
nuclear capabilities in exchange for
authorized by or directly traceable to
international sanc-
Iran's supreme leader. That would allow
tions relief, the hate-
Tehran to strike a direct blow against
ful sentiment makes
"infidels" — perceived enemies of Islam
the Islamic Republic's
— but not suffer direct consequences.
true desires suspect.
For its part, Iran's theocratic regime
The U.S. Congress
isn't likely to give up its taste for ter-
must step up dur-
ror and sabotage amid fewer working
ing its 60-day review
centrifuges and a smaller, insuffi-
period to either
cient stockpile of enriched uranium.
Khomeini
expose the deal,
Consider North Korea's flirtation with
signed July 14 in Vienna, as a conces-
a nuclear weapon in 2006 following an
sion-marred fraud or decide it's the
international agreement intended to
makings of a politically prudent treaty
clamp down on that country's nuclear
worth supporting.
program.
As protestors in the Iranian capital
burned Israeli and U.S. flags on July
Day Of Deceit
10 — Al Quds Day — Iranian Supreme
Ayatollah Khomeini declared Al Quds
Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, an
Day to be a holiday in 1979, setting
unswerving denouncer of Israel and
it for the last Friday of the month of
Ramadan. He imagined the day to be
the West, tweeted, "There are two
one of religious duty for all Muslims
sides in oppression: oppressor and
to unite against Israel and to
the oppressed. We back the
pray for Jerusalem to be "lib-
oppressed and are against
erated:' Subsequent Iranian
oppressors:'
leaders have imagined the
Al Quds Day protest post-
day as a time to rally support
ers showed flaming images of
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
for the Palestinian cause and
mark just how important
Netanyahu, a despised Middle
Jerusalem and its Islamic holy
East neighbor; Saudi Arabian
King Salman, a nearby Sunni
sites are to Muslims.
Netan yahu
rival of Shiite Iran; and U.S.
Don't be fooled.
As much as anything, Al Quds Day
President Barack Obama, chief promot-
er of the P5+1 nuclear arms agreement
invigorates Iran's quest for regional
with Iran announced three days later.
dominance and for a telling blow
The European Union facilitated nego-
against Israel, the major impediment
tiations between Iran, the U.N. Security
to wider Persian influence in the
Council's five permanent members
politically fractured Middle East. Iran
(the U.S., the United Kingdom, France,
already commands terrorist toeholds in
Russia, China) plus Germany.
the Gaza Strip via Hamas, in Lebanon

via Hezbollah, in Syria via the Assad
regime and in Yemen via the Houthi
rebels. Iraq also is on Iran's radar.
So repeated Al Quds Day chants
of "Death to America" and "Death to
Israel" to whip imperialist fervor dur-
ing the main prayer service in Tehran
shouldn't be discounted. Chanting
came amid Friday prayers at Tehran
University, during which the presiding
imam lauded Iran's nuclear negotia-
tors and blasted the U.S. for exacting
crippling economic sanctions against
Iran. Service attend-
ees included Iranian
President Hassan
Rouhani, a supposed
political moderate
beholden to Ayatollah
Khameni, who has
proudly sustained
Iran's history of
Khameni
deception and denial
about its nuclear program and attitude
toward Israel.

Favor, Iran

Since the P5+1 deal was announced
July 13, Iranian reaction has been less
strident. Ordinary Iranians have joined
Tehran in welcoming it, at least openly.
That's not surprising.
There's seemingly no sense among
Iranians they've conceded anything
during the negotiating process other
than time. Their belief is they remain
at the threshold of developing nuclear
arms capabilities, which would add a
layer of advantage as Sunni-inspired
terrormonger Islamic State (ISIS) gains
increasing traction nearby.
Meanwhile, the Israeli government,
much like Sunni neighbors Egypt and
Saudi Arabia, fears much of Iran's
nuclear infrastructure will stay intact or
only marginally altered until negotiated
controls lapse in 10-15 years.
Israel also fears much of the billions
freed up through eased sanctions and
the unfreezing of Iranian assets will go
to fund terrorism by Iranian proxies —
and trigger a nuclear arms race in the
tinderbox that is the Middle East.

Cultural Unrest
Over the long haul and with the right
mix of patience and planning, Tehran
surely must envision the deal as one to
cheer.

The Detail on page 39

38

July 23 • 2015

A

s if it didn't have enough to
worry about with organized
terrorist threats lingering on
much of its border, Israel now must
confront another grassroots internal
danger, this time from a small group
of Bedouin Arabs who allegedly have
vowed allegiance to the Islamic State
(ISIS), a terrorist organization.
The sobering example illustrates
why Israel – a prosperous, Western-
linked democracy in an embattled
region where Islamism is aiming to
take root – must never let down its
guard against forces that seek to
destroy it. ISIS already controls parts
of Syria and Iraq and is making noise
in the Sinai, the lawless, Egyptian pen-
insula southwest of the Negev. ISIS
followers become fervent toward the
"cause" and a menace to freedom.
Israel's Shin Bet internal security
service has announced the indict-
ment of six Bedouins from the Negev
town of Hura for suspected support of
the Islamic State jihadist movement.
Diaspora visitors to Israel traveling the
Negev often see Bedouins as shep-
herds living simply in shantytowns.
The arrest of the ISIS-linked six
over the past two months changes
that image. Four of the six are public
school teachers accused of spread-
ing ISIS jihadist ideology to their Arab
students. A principal and other teach-
ers at the involved schools denied
knowledge of the defendants' political
leanings and activities, according to
the Shin Bet.
Charges include distributing materi-
als of an illegal organization, support-
ing a terrorist organization and con-
spiracy to commit a crime – a daunt-
ing list of charges indeed. The Shin
Bet believes several of the suspects
planned to join and fight with ISIS in
civil war-wracked Syria.
The Shin Bet called the suspected
classroom indoctrination by the teach-
ers "a cynical exploitation of their
duties and a violation of the trust
given to them by the education system
and by parents and students."
It's fortunate the Shin Bet exposed
the indictment-fraught scheming. And
certainly, the vast majority of Israel's
200,000 Bedouins are law abiding.
Still, you wonder how many Israeli
students already have been sold on
ISIS – and how many other Bedouins,
who as citizens have begun to chal-
lenge Israeli government policy over
their perceived steerage-class status,
are ISIS sympathizers. ❑

