(JERUSALEM POST)
By Aaron Klein
Three days after the Jewish state took out a purported Hezbollah convoy heading toward the Israeli side of the Golan Heights, a knife-wielding Palestinian terrorist stabbed 12 morning commuters inside a bus in the heart of Tel Aviv, then quickly exited after seriously wounding at least four people. These two seemingly unrelated events may, in fact, be interconnected and could signal a coming Hamas rocket campaign if the major demands of Gaza’s globally isolated, cash-strapped Islamist rulers are not met in the near future.
The Tel Aviv bus assailant, identified as Hamza Mohammed Matrouk, 23, from the West Bank town of Tulkarem, has been largely depicted as a “lone wolf” responding to the ongoing Palestinian campaign of anti-Jewish incitement. While no doubt there can be incendiary acts like those of Matrouk that are inspired by the official Palestinian calls to violence, in this particular case there may be more than meets the Mideast eye.
Hamas immediately took to Twitter to praise Matrouk’s heinous carnage, calling the bus bloodshed “brave and heroic,” while not officially claiming responsibility. According to Middle Eastern defense sources, Hamas surrogates may have dispatched Matrouk to signal to Iran and its proxy Hezbollah the continued commitment by Hamas to the path of jihad, as well as its willingness to do Tehran’s bidding in exchange for massive financial support.
The bus brutality came less than 24 hours after an Israeli official took the unusual step of recognizing his country was behind Sunday’s strike on a Hezbollah convoy near the Israeli side of the Golan Heights. The attack killed the Iranian Revolutionary Guard General Mohammed Allahdadi as well as a Hezbollah commander and the son of the group’s late military leader, Imad Mughniyeh. Hezbollah said six of its members died in the strike.
