Dr. Dan Diker, the President of the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, spoke with Arutz Sheva-Israel National News about Venezuela's contribution to global terror, as he completes a comprehensive article on this matter that should be troubling the entire world.
"The world paid attention to Venezuela's significant involvement in global terrorism and global drug trafficking, and now, it is all coming out," Dr. Diker says. "Hugo Chavez and Maduro were responsible for billions in terror funding from Iran. They represent the Iranian regime. Senior Iranian officials don't need a visa to enter Venezuela and receive Venezuelan citizenship immediately and automatically," he adds and states that Venezuela is not only an extension of Iran in South America, but it serves as a transit point for terror to the entire Latin America.
Diker mentions the Hezbollah Israeli Embassy and AMIA bombings of 1992 and 1994 in Argentina. "Venezuela inherited and advanced this terrorism through Hugo Chavez and later through Maduro. They continue to support Iranian terrorism through Hezbollah and Iran's other satellites. They finance terrorism on the Brazil-Argentina-Paraguay border triangle. Venezuela is the agent for transporting terrorism from there and from the north, since Venezuela is the northernmost country in South America."
"They are responsible for the billions in terror funding and the transfer of terror elements. President Trump understood this. It isn't just a matter of drug trafficking, but also a terror machine at the US's back door, and Trump wants to send a clear message to the Iranian regime, and I think he was successful in that."
Dr. Diker also addressed claims by some in the West that Trump's decision was driven by economic considerations and a desire to take control of Venezuela's oil, which would not justify such actions against the leader of a sovereign state. "I heard such criticism over the past few days. There is a war here between the axis of evil and Venezuela, Russia, China, and Iran, which are taking control of the economic axis of evil through oil. What is preferable, that they control it, or that the United States, Saudi Arabia, and the Emiratis, who represent a stabilizing force in the global energy landscape, control it? That is the choice."
Diker also mentions that "in 1983, President Reagan raided Granada and captured Cuban military agents, in 86', the Americans attacked Libya, and, in 89', they captured Manuel Noriega, the dictator of Panama, for the same things, trafficking drugs and supporting terror, and he sat in an American prison for 17 years. So why are they criticizing Trump, who is doing the same thing as his two predecessors? It is subjective criticism like that against Netanyahu."
Diker claimed that Barack Obama and Joe Biden's policies led to the growth of global terror and its spread from Syria and Lebanon to Africa. "Obama gave a billion dollars in cash to the Ayatollah in Iran. How did that help us?" he wonders.
Dr. Diker insists that there is a direct connection to Venezuela. Hezbollah is a leading drug trafficker and runs drug, cigarette, vehicle, and oil businesses in Venezuela. "There is a full partnership between the two. The United States must do good public diplomacy to explain it to the American people. People are unaware of the danger that Venezuela poses to the US."
"A percentage of oil that Venezuela exports to China, and here they are hurting that ability. America wants to take 80.5 trillion dollars out of the ground in Venezuela, which is proud to be part of the Axis of Evil," says Diker, and adds the impact of the American operation in Venezuela on the protesters in Tehran who are encouraged by it in their fight against the Ayatollahs in Iran.