Former Alaska governor and US vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin on Sunday sent a message to President Barack Obama that he can mend his failing popularity and ensure his chances of reelection in 2012 by standing firmly behind Israel and realizing that the time has arrived to resort to military options to thwart Iran's nuclear program.

Speaking on Fox News, Palin stated, "Say [Obama] decided to declare war on Iran or decided to really come out and do whatever he could to support Israel - which I would like him to do - that changes the dynamics of what we can assume will happen between now and three years. Because I think if the election were today, Obama would not be elected."

Indeed, a recent poll by Politico showed Obama being edged out by former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee if elections were held today. Newly-elected Senator Scott Brown (R-MA) has also been touted as a possible contender in 2012 due his being voted in on the strength of his opposition to Obama's health care plans.

Palin is also seen as a possible candidate, though even her own party has dragged her through the mud quite a bit over the past year.

On the same day that Iran announced it would begin enriching its uranium stockpile, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei declared that not even the might of the West can save Israel now.

Iranian media cited Khamenei as telling the head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement on Sunday that Israel's destruction is imminent according to the will of Allah, and that the support of America and certain European nations could do nothing to thwart the Jewish state's downfall.

Also Sunday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered Iran's Atomic Energy Organization to begin enriching the nation's uranium stockpile to a level of 20 percent and to build an additional 10 uranium enrichment facilities.

The move was seen as a rejection of a Western diplomatic deal whereby Iran's uranium would be enriched abroad to ensure it did not reach weapons grade. US and European leaders said they were becoming fed up with Iran's defiance, though they have proved in the past that such threats have no teeth.

The looming threat is escalating the likelihood that Israel will be forced to intervene militarily to at least set back Iran's nuclear program, lest it face a very real existential threat.

But Iran is nearly prepared to repel an Israeli air raid thanks to an expected delivery of advanced Russian-made anti-aircraft missile batteries. Iranian and Russian officials last Thursday confirmed that Moscow, despite Israeli objections, will honor its contract to deliver the S-300 missile systems to the Islamic Republic very soon.

Hamas on Saturday reacted angrily to reports that it had apologized for shelling Israeli civilians during last year's Gaza War.

Reuters reported last week on a letter sent by the Hamas government in Gaza to the UN regarding the Goldstone Commission into the conduct of both the terror group and Israel during the month-long confrontation.

In the letter, Hamas officials noted that their forces did not possess accurate weapons, and that oftentimes their fire would go astray "and hit a civilian location, despite their efforts to avoid hurting civilians."

The wording was interpreted as a sort of apology for the thousands of rockets that fell on Israeli population centers during the war.

But Hamas justice minister Muhammad Faraj Al-Ghoul told reporters that the group had by no means intended the letter to be an apology for targeting Israeli civilians, and again tried to shift blame for the fighting to Israel.

"Moderate" Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said in an interview with Germany's Der Spiegel published on Sunday that he will not drop his demand for a total Jewish building freeze in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and warned that if Palestinian demands are not met, additional violence could be on the horizon.

Abbas indirectly acknowledged that he increased Palestinian preconditions in response to US President Barack Obama's electoral victory in 2008, and the belief among Middle East Muslims that the new American leader would favor them over Israel and pressure the Jewish state to surrender to their demands.

"I was initially very optimistic after (US President Barack) Obama won the election. His Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, kept coming to us and promised to urge the Israelis to stop settlement construction completely," said Abbas. "The American government suddenly backed away from this position in September."

But the Palestinian leader still has some hope that Obama will "convince the Israelis to announce a complete freeze on construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem" so that a Palestinian state, which "Obama said...constitutes a vital American interest," can be established.

Abbas insisted that his regime long ago implemented all its current peace obligations [Ed. Note - reports of ongoing incitement in the Palestinian media would suggest otherwise], and that it is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who is the obstacle to peace by repeatedly stating that Jerusalem will remain undivided under Israeli sovereignty.

Abbas concluded by warning Israel and the world to "not drive the Palestinians to the point of total hopelessness." The Palestinian used a similar excuse to justify their seven-year terrorist onslaught from 2000-2007, known locally as the "Oslo War" or the "Al Aqsa War."

Hamas fears Israel has managed to infiltrate its Damascus-based leadership, a senior Gaza-based group member told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.

The unnamed official said last month's assassination of top Hamas operative Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai had prompted an investigation into how Israel was receiving information regarding the movements of the group's people.

"Only a few people in the Hamas leadership knew about Mabhouh’s secret activities and movements," noted the official.

Hamas is also looking into the possibility that Israel has infiltrated the Syrian security services, which are responsible for the safety of the terror groups that operate out of Damascus.

Israel has denied involvement in Mabhouh's killing, and pointed out that Hamas has many other enemies in the region.