Irmo Brief 12/2023 - The Root Causes of Israel’s Declining International Support

At the September 2023 Atlantic Festival, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan proudly proclaimed “the Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades.” A week later, Iran-backed Hamas terrorists attacked Israel by air, land, and sea, killing, sexually assaulting, and abducting civilians, including the murders of 36 children. An estimated 1,200 Israelis were killed during the military-style assault and 135 still remain hostages, held by Hamas in the vast tunnel structure underneath
Gaza. Iran, which, according to the Stimson Center, supports Hamas as one of Tehran’s primary vehicles to confront Israel on multiple fronts, has proceeded to use its militias to attack US forces over 90 times since mid-October 2023 in Iraq and Syria.