Islamic Jihad envoy: Israel caught off guard

Representative of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement in Tehran Nasser Abu Sharif underlined the feeble standing of the Zionist regime after its intensified internal crises and victory of popular uprisings in the region, and said Israel has now been left defenseless.\"Israel\'s protection shield is down and the regime is completely off guard and helpless,\" Abu Sharif said in Tehran on Tuesday, referring to the remarks by David H. Petraeus, the CIA director, that Israel has now turned into a burden on the shoulders of the US Army. \"Israel used the former regime in Iran, Turkey and Egypt as its protection shield but now Israel is faced with the danger of annihilation,\" he added. \"In my view, the regime is moving towards annihilation and the awakening of nations is the beginning of Israel\'s collapse and they are aware of the issue,\" Abu Sharif underscored. On Monday, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta had warned that Israel is becoming an increasingly pariah regime in the Middle East. Panetta, who arrived in Israel on Monday for the first time since becoming Pentagon chief, said he would reaffirm US security commitments to Israel and try to help it improve its increasingly chilly relations with Turkey and Egypt. \"It\'s pretty clear, at this dramatic time in the Middle East when there have been so many changes, that it is not a good situation for Israel to become increasingly isolated. And that is what has happened,\" Panetta told reporters on his plane. Analysts believe that the growing power and impacts of Islamic awakening and popular uprisings in the Muslim countries will entail dire consequences for the Zionist regime of Israel, including its further isolation in the region. Egyptians raided the Israeli embassy in Cairo in September and forced the Israeli ambassador to leave their country. Less than a week later, Jordanians staged a similar demonstration and intimidated the Israeli diplomats in their country so deeply that the Zionist regime\'s diplomatic corps in Amman ran away even before the start of the rally in anticipation of the raid.