A veteran Indian university professor says Iran has dealt a serious blow to Israel during the latter’s recent eight-day war on the besieged Gaza Strip.

“Iran has punched a big hole in the Israel’s overinflated hot air ego balloon -- inflated by America’s active military (both hardware and intelligence) support not just in peacetime but even during its wars against Palestinians and Arabs since 1967 Arab-Israel war,” M. I. Bhat, professor emeritus at University of Kashmir, wrote in a column for Press TV on Sunday.

He described the end of the conflict as a “great achievement” for Iran, saying, “And at the same time Iran has severely weakened Israel on one of its war fronts.”

Bhat also praised Iran for encouraging the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas to stand against the Israeli aggression.

“...After helping [Lebanon’s] Hezbollah secure itself against frequent Israeli depravations, it has made another Israeli victim feel bold enough, if not fully secure, to confront it with a real sting.”

On Wednesday, under an Egypt-brokered deal, Palestinians and Israelis agreed to end all hostilities against each other after eight days of relentless Israeli attacks on the coastal enclave. Israel also agreed to open all crossings and facilitate the movement of people and goods in and out of the Gaza Strip. But it did not accept to lift the blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Over 160 Palestinians, including women and children, were killed and about 1,200 others were injured in over 1,500 Israeli attacks on Gaza that were carried out during the eight-day period of November 14-21.

Bhat said Israel had proposed the truce out of fear, saying, “For Israel scared population is not the same as the dead Gazans are for Hamas - for the former it saps moral, for the latter it energizes to go an extra-mile to avenge.”

Source:PressTV.com