A report published by Time magazine explained that after half a century, it was confirmed that assassinations would never be a solution to the “Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” explaining that every person who is assassinated – even if he is a senior leader – is compensated by another leader.
The report was prepared by Yossi Melman, an analyst for military and security affairs at Haaretz newspaper, and Dan Raviv, a former correspondent for the American CBS channel, both of whom wrote a book entitled “Spies Against Armageddon: Inside Israel’s Secret Wars.”
The publication of the report came against the backdrop of the assassination of the martyr Saleh Al-Arouri, Deputy Head of the Political Bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement “Hamas”, in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, on the evening of January 2, 2024.
tactic
The TIME report continued that the old Mossad members are still convinced that assassinations should remain a rarely used tactic, noting that the various Israeli security services have assassinated many figures over the years inside and outside the occupied territories, without result.
The report recalled the assassination of the martyr Fathi Al-Shaqaqi, the founder of the Islamic Jihad movement on the island of Malta, and stressed that after his assassination the movement became larger in size and more dangerous to Israel.
He also talked about the attempt to assassinate Khaled Meshal via poison in Jordan, but he survived, while some Israeli agents were arrested and released after providing the antidote to Meshal.
After the failed assassination attempt, Khaled Meshal turned – the report adds – into a prominent leader in the movement, one of its most prominent names, and head of its political bureau for years. Among the results of the failed operation was the formation of an investigation committee and the resignation of Mossad director at the time, Danny Atom, and some of his subordinates, one of whom became mentally ill and threatened to kill his comrades.
Assassinations
In 2008, the Mossad assassinated the prominent leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah, Imad Mughniyeh, in the Syrian capital, Damascus, but the party’s power continued to grow and escalate, and the operation hardly affected it as Israel had hoped.
The Time report confirmed that intelligence and army leaders in Israel are trying to develop a strategy to carry out assassinations, but without relying on it as a means to “achieve comprehensive victory,” but rather as a tactical step that solves some problems in the short term.
Among them may be restoring deterrence after the “October disaster” (the Al-Aqsa flood), and intimidating Israel’s enemies.