Less than 48 hours have passed since the dramatic assassination of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah - and it is still unclear: What will be the far-reaching consequences and effects of the 'boom' that shook the Middle East?
Prof. Uzi Rabi, a senior researcher at the Moshe Dayan Center, spoke today (Sunday) with Yinon Magal and Barak Sari on 103FM. "By any measure, this is a phenomenal achievement, we agree on that, and we hope that these things will continue, because ultimately I say this to everyone who asks - the moves of the last two weeks are opening the stage for some kind of strategic move that, if successful, will turn out to be Israel acting here contrary to custom in the last 20 years, with a change of heart and the creation of many things that send a clear message to the Shiite resistance axis, which has suffered a very hard blow, both operationally and in terms of image.".
He mentioned: "Hezbollah still has capabilities, we need to be fully vigilant from all directions, but having said that, it is definitely a hard blow to the axis of resistance. Understand that this is not a mechanical analysis, but what they like to call a concept. Whoever said silence after 'Protective Edge' will be answered with silence, whoever engaged in what is called intimidation is someone who, at the end of the day, is not that qualified in Middle Eastern training.".
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He said, "What I've discovered in recent years is that for many years people have been talking about the Middle East, they can be politicians, military officers, but they talk about the Middle East without training. In the Middle East, you can't buy status, even if you want to reach out for normalization, unless you clearly prove how much stronger you are than the other. There is no agreement unless you actually come with signs and wonders and prove it to the other side.".
Prof. Rabi addressed the joy surrounding the assassination in Israel and Arab countries, compared to the cold reactions in the West:
""There is joy for the dead and there is joy for the relieved, those who at the end of the day understand the Middle East. You understand that in the Middle East there are players who understand what Israel did and see it as an opening for dramatic change. Those who don't understand are the US and Europe, who perpetuated all the evils that are ailing the Middle East in their policies. Biden told the truth - the Hezbollah organization and the arch-terrorist Nasrallah, until September 11, had killed more Americans than any other terrorist organization.
""The one who started all this is Obama and the presidents after him, the abandonment of the Middle East, the fact that they are helping Israel is beyond dispute, but I say this in a friendly way - the ability to distinguish between good and evil somehow doesn't exist.
""When we went to sleep for 20 years, Hezbollah built itself as a state within a state. It has factories, schools. There is going to be a generational change within Hezbollah, most of Nasrallah's guys were killed, the young people are much more attentive to Iran. The issue of resistance will always be extreme, they will not wave a white flag and say we were wrong. Iran will have more control, it will be more in the picture.".
