Hamas in Gaza last week marked the 18th anniversary of the assassination of founder and spiritual leader Ahmed Yassin. His elimination on March 22, 2004 – three years into the Second Intifada – came too late for the 430 Israelis killed and 2,260 who were wounded in the 780 terrorist attacks Hamas carried out during those years under Yassin's leadership and sometimes, even direct orders.
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Yassin was arrested, tried and imprisoned in Israel twice, and twice he was released without serving his full sentence: first as part of the Jibril deal in 1985, in which Israel released 1,150 Palestinian terrorists, and then in 1997, following the Mossad's failed assassination attempt on Khaled Mashaal's in Jordan.
Yassin was assassinated as part of a wide-scale operation Israel wages against Hamas leaders. A month after his elimination, his successor, Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi, suffered the same fate.
These hits were denounced worldwide and it was only thanks to the US's veto that the UN Security Council did not pass a resolution officially condemning Israel for it. Criticism was also aplenty in Israel, however, as there were those who argued that the elimination policy was ineffective and only fanned the flames of terrorism.
The latter claim was based on the 1992 assassination of Hezbollah leader Abbas al-Musawi, which prompted the Shiite terrorist group and its sponsor, Iran, to target the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires as well as the AMIA building in the Argentine capital, killing 114 people. Musawi's successor was Hassan Nasrallah.
Truth be told, Musawi was not a righteous man, nor was he any less a dangerous enemy than Nasrallah. Moreover, unlike in Hamas' case, where Israel continued to strike relentlessly, Israel played into Hezbollah's hands and took a step back. In many ways, the decision to suspend the attempt to eliminate Hezbollah leaders made Israel shift to a defensive position that brought about the Second Lebanon War in 2006.
The Israeli policy was adopted by the United States, as evidenced by the assassination of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in 2011, which dealt a crippling blow to the terrorist group from which it did not recover, and the assassination of Islamic State founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2019 and his successor, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, in February 2022.
The elimination of a terrorist leader is not the appearance of everything not can this policy alone serve as the exclusive answer, but it is an important element in the war on terror and a prover and effective way to undermine it and prevent – even temporarily – new terrorist attacks.
The war on terror is an ongoing battle that can be won only by those who persevere and do not shy away from striking the enemy. It does not make sense to eliminate a lone terrorist or terrorist cell on its way to carry out an attack, if you stop when it comes to the architects of terrorism or those giving the orders.
Terrorist leaders use suicide bombers but know how to take good care of themselves and their associates. Therefore, targeted assassinations are a necessity, a move that harms terrorism and weakens it, and most importantly – spares lives.
One should not shy away from it, but it should be understood that it is not a magic solution rather this is an ongoing struggle in which the enemy is defeated with resolve and perseverance.
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