A Daily Analysis
By Marc Schulman

April 13, 2009--Failed Boat Attack, Some Thoughts on Iran

One of the Palestinian organizations tried to use a small boat filled with explosives to attack an Israeli naval vessel. The attack failed when the boat exploded early, although even if it had not exploded, the Israeli navy would not have allowed the vessel to get close enough to harm it, without opening fire.

Meanwhile in the northern Sinai desert the Egyptian military is searching for a terrorist cell that is either planning to attack Israelis in Sinai or infiltrate into Israel to engage in a terrorist attack. In North Sinai the terrorist seem to be getting help from the Bediun’s there. The Bediun of North Sinai are very different from the Bediun of the south. They belong to different tribes and they have been making their money for the last 10 years by smuggling into Gaza and to a smaller extent into Israel itself. Those of the south are the ones that most Israelis know from their visits to southern and have been much friendly to Israel and Israelis while those of the North have always more problematic.

There was an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal today What Iran Really Thinks About Talks by Michael Rubin. The article puts forth the view that widely shared by many that the Iranian’s have been and will continue to just use talks as a way to delay sanctions while they continue to build the bomb. I think the problem is more fundemental. Americans and the particularly the new administration seems to believe that Iran truly cares about what the United States thinks and do’s and I have heard endless commentators say that what really wants is respect. This is missing the main goals of the Iranians. That goal is not to get respect from the US but to dominate the world of Islam. Their policy to do that, is to support groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas to undermine the conservative regimes in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The actions of the US in reaching out to Iran is not worrying Israel as much as it worries those regimes. Ultimately any attempt to outreach to Iran will most likely be futile, since what Iran wants it cannot get from the US.