As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated, the pre-emptive strike on Iran was not only due to the imminence of an Iranian breakthrough with weapons-grade uranium. It was also rooted in the rapidly growing Iranian inventory of long-range ballistic missiles that, if left alone, would have been able to overwhelm Israel.
After six salvos of ballistic missiles have struck the Jewish state in the last 72 hours, it needs to be said that Iran is not acting alone. It obtained the technology and many of the critical missile components from Beijing, even the rocket fuel for this impressive arsenal. Chinese personnel have been present in Iran, and the evidence of their broad and nefarious military role is undeniable.
In February, China was caught red-handed selling Iran 1,000 tons of sodium perchlorate. That is a key solid rocket fuel ingredient. Once processed into ammonium perchlorate, it is enough fuel to launch 260 “Kheibar Shekan” missiles or 200 “Haj Qasem” missiles at Israel. Those were the same missiles Iran used to strike Israel on April 13-14, 2024. There is satellite imagery of the shipment arriving in Iran.
In March, Chinese aerospace components used to manufacture Iranian and Houthi offensive drones were intercepted on the Yemen-Oman border. Earlier the same month, Chinese hydrogen fuel cells were found in the wreckage of Houthi drones. China has also been selling Iran and the Houthis drone engines, GPS guidance modules for ballistic missiles, electronics and more.
In April, a state-owned Chinese satellite technology company, Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co. Ltd., was caught supplying the Houthis with real-time Chinese satellite imagery. The Houthis use these to detect and target civilian vessels in the Red Sea.
Then, on April 26, the entire shipment of rocket fuel that Iran had received in February suddenly detonated. The volatile fuel had been hidden in and among civilian containers at Iran’s Bandar Abbas port and not in a designated hazardous materials area. The blast killed 57 people and wounded 1,000 others. The explosion sent a shockwave felt 30 miles away. It shattered windows up to a mile away and incinerated some 10,000 cargo containers nearby.
The Chinese consulate admitted that three Chinese nationals were present at the time of the blast and were also injured. Measure for measure, as the Talmud says.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury, in May, sanctioned several Chinese companies and individuals who were aiding and abetting Iran’s ballistic missile program.
Unfortunately, Iran never seems to learn lessons. Last week, before the Israeli strikes, Iran ordered a second shipment of Chinese rocket fuel that was twice the size of the previous order. That may have also contributed to the timing of Israel’s pre-emptive attack.
China apologists, and there are many, say that Israel should not read into China’s support for Iran. China will sell anything to anybody, they say. China’s real beef is with the United States, not Israel. Others say that China’s support of Iran and the Houthis forces the United States into distracting, low-return military skirmishes in the Middle East. Meanwhile, China works to lock in more gains in the South China Sea and elsewhere, which are its real priorities.
China’s true motivations are irrelevant. Actions matter. China’s direct assistance to Iran has helped the Islamic Regime murder more than a dozen Jewish civilians who have been killed in ballistic missile attacks, which have struck residential buildings while traveling at Mach 6 speed. Hundreds more have been wounded.
Even before the start of Israel’s campaign against Iran, drones that were built with China’s assistance had helped Iran shed Jewish blood. On July 19, 2024, Tel Aviv resident Yevgeny Ferder, a 50-year-old civilian, was murdered while sleeping in his apartment. He died in an explosion caused by an Iranian Samad‑3 drone, launched by the Houthis.
How did the drone get to Ferder’s apartment? China sold Iran the engine and other parts for the drone. Adding insult to injury, China stole the blueprints for the lightweight aluminum piston engine from a U.S. company, Desert Aircraft Company.
This is not the first time ballistic missile development triggered swift and aggressive Israeli action. In the late 1950s, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, who lost two wars to Israel on the battlefield, sought to build V1- and V2-style vengeance weapons. He hired dozens of former Nazi rocket scientists, who started work in Cairo in 1959.
In “Operation Damocles,” Mossad sought to end the program. Just a decade after the Holocaust, Israel took a dim view of Nazis on its border. Some scientists were kidnapped. Others were killed. Letter bombs were sent to their homes in Cairo. Heinz Krug, a key Munich-based arms dealer and a scientist who worked on the project, disappeared without a trace in 1962. Defanged of its evil German Nazi brainpower, Egypt’s missile program fizzled.
While there is little that Israel can do militarily against China, which has the world’s largest army and second-largest economy, it must reverse course on its long-established and misguided policy of cozying up to China, promoting Chinese investment and giving China valuable port and transportation concessions in Israel.
It is hard to believe that a succession of Israeli prime ministers dating back to the early 2000s has permitted such a geopolitical foe like China to ingratiate itself to the point that we are all now riding on Chinese trains in Tel Aviv. One shouldn’t be allowed to eat at Israel’s dinner table while simultaneously trying to kill all the Jews in the dining room.