The Guardian newspaper said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the new strategy two weeks after the Al-Aqsa Flood operation on October 7th.
She stated that Israeli officials explained to reporters that a new operation called “Nili,” which is an abbreviation of a biblical phrase in Hebrew meaning “Eternal Israel will not lie,” would target senior leaders of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), but previous targets of such operations saw that it might lead to results. It is counterproductive, impractical and ineffective.
Netanyahu said – according to a report by Jason Burke from Jerusalem – in a press conference that he had instructed the Israeli intelligence service abroad (Mossad) to “assassinate all Hamas leaders wherever they are,” after which a leaked recording was released by Ronen Bar, head of the Israeli internal security service (Shin Bet). He tells Israeli parliamentarians that Hamas leaders will be killed “in Gaza, in the West Bank, in Lebanon, in Turkey, in Qatar, everywhere… It will take a few years, but we will be there to do it.”
Analysts believe that the Israeli security services are currently focusing on killing Hamas leaders in Gaza, and the Israeli army has confirmed that it is tightening the noose around its leader, Yahya Sinwar.
“We understand that we have to reach everyone in the Hamas leadership, because we will not cripple this organization without eliminating these very influential figures,” said Kobi Michael, a researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv. “They were deeply involved in the deadly attack that occurred on October 7.” /October and they must pay the price.”
Don’t solve a problem
But everyone – according to the newspaper – is not convinced of such operations. Journalist Yossi Melman, who has covered the Israeli security services for decades, says that the strategy of assassinations “does not solve anything.” He added, “The Israeli intelligence community is fond of assassinations, and now they feel ashamed and humiliated and want to save themselves.” .
Others pointed out that the repeated public talk about the campaign reflects officials’ desire to reassure frightened residents who have lost confidence in the ability of the Israeli security services and the government to keep them safe. “Remembering Munich is exciting, but it is quite useless,” says Yossi Alpher, a former Mossad official. Hamas has not left the Gaza Strip where it can be traced, and this will not happen.”
Some historians have suggested that the campaign of assassinations carried out by the Mossad after Munich may have led to adverse results in the long term, although some of them had a real strategic impact, such as the assassination of Fathi al-Shaqaqi, the founder of the Islamic Jihad movement in Palestine, in Malta in 1995, and the assassination of Imad Mughniyeh. In a joint operation by Mossad and the CIA in 2008.
The killing of Shaqaqi paralyzed the PIJ for several years, but the PIJ rebuilt its strength in the years that followed. The killing of Mughniyeh was a major blow to Hezbollah, but the party is still alive and active.
The Guardian interviewed 5 Palestinians who were targeted for assassination over a period of more than 50 years, and they all said that the attempts to assassinate them only strengthened their convictions and helped recruit them into their factions, which means that assassination does not necessarily constitute a deterrent.
It strengthened their convictions
Bassem Abu Sharif remembers how he was severely injured in 1972 by a bomb sent by Israel. He said, “The package was addressed to me and inside it was a book about Che Guevara. I opened the book, turned 3 pages, and saw the explosives attached to a battery.” He added, “They took my finger, my eye, and 65% of my sight.” “The other,” but the attack made him more determined to continue his activity with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
The Israeli assassination campaign that followed the Munich attacks slowed down, but it did not stop. Ali Hassan Salama was killed in 1979 in a car bomb explosion in Beirut, and Salah Khalaf was killed in Tunisia in 1991, but the attempt to assassinate Khaled Meshal failed in 1997, but the campaign intensified during the uprising. The second is between 2000 and 2005.
Tawfiq Al-Tirawi, the former head of Fatah intelligence who was active in the 1970s, said that the movement responded to Israel’s campaign, which resulted in the death of a Mossad agent and the serious injury of another, and an Israeli diplomat died in London after opening a letter bomb. He said, “In reality, it was… There is an exchange of assassinations between us and the Israelis.”
However, the question remains – according to the newspaper – is whether a campaign like the one promised by Netanyahu is actually viable, especially since the current Hamas leadership outside Gaza is mainly based in Qatar and Turkey, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned Israel against targeting Hamas officials there, and said Alpher said that assassinations would be impossible in Qatar because it is the main mediator of the negotiations aimed at releasing about 140 Israeli detainees in Gaza.
Another former member of the Mossad campaigns in the 1970s said that assassinations in Egypt would not be possible, just as they are in Europe now, “inconceivable,” because the diplomatic damage done in France, the United Kingdom, or even Germany would be catastrophic.
