[News] For These Reasons, Israel Assassinated Hamas' Political Leader, Ismail Haniyeh

[Anti-Imperialist News]

palestinechronicle.com
<https://www.palestinechronicle.com/for-these-reasons-israel-assassinated-hamas-political-leader-ismail-haniyeh-analysis/>
For These Reasons, Israel Assassinated Hamas' Political Leader, Ismail
Haniyeh
July 31, 2024
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and Hamas leader Ismail
Haniyeh. (Design: Palestine Chronicle)

*By Ramzy Baroud <https://www.palestinechronicle.com/writers/ramzy-baroud>*


Considering the criminal extent to which Israel is willing to go, such
desperation could eventually lead to the regional war that Israel has been
trying to instigate, even before the Gaza war.

Israel’s assassination of the head of Hamas’ political bureau, Ismail
Haniyeh, in Tehran, on July 31 is part of Tel Aviv’s overall desperate
search for a wider conflict. It is a criminal act that reeks of
desperation.

Almost immediately after the start of the Gaza war on October 7, Israel
hoped to use the genocide in the Strip as an opportunity to achieve its
long-term goal of a regional war – one that would rope in Washington as
well as Iran and other Middle Eastern countries.

Despite unconditional support for its genocide in Gaza, and various
conflicts throughout the region, the United States refrained from entering
a direct war against Iran and others. Though defeating Iran is an American
strategic objective, the US lacks the will and tools to pursue it now.

After ten months of a failed war on Gaza and a military stalemate against
Hezbollah in Lebanon, Israel is, once more, accelerating its push for a
wider conflict. This time around, however, Israel is engaging in a
high-stakes game, the most dangerous of its previous gambles.

The current gamble involved the targeting of a top Hezbollah leader by
bombing a residential building in Beirut on Tuesday, – and, of course, the
assassination of Palestine’s most visible, let alone popular political
leader. Haniyeh has succeeded in forging and strengthening ties with
Russia, China, and other countries beyond the US-western political domain.

Israel chose the place and timing of killing Haniyeh carefully. The
Palestinian leader was killed in the Iranian capital, shortly after he
attended the inauguration of Iran’s new president Masoud Pezeshkian.

The Israeli message was a compound one, to Iran’s new administration – that
of Israel’s readiness to escalate further – and to Hamas, that Israel has
no intentions to end the war or to reach a negotiated ceasefire.

The latter point is perhaps the most urgent. For months, Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has done everything in his power to impede all
diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the war. By killing the top Palestinian
negotiator, Israel delivered a final and decisive message that Israel
remains invested in violence, and in nothing else.

The scale of the Israeli provocations, however, poses a great challenge to
the pro-Palestinian camp in the Middle East, namely, how to respond with
equally strong messages without granting Israel its wish of embroiling the
whole region in a destructive war.

Considering the military capabilities of what is known as the ‘Axis of
Resistance’, Iran, Hezbollah and others are certainly capable of managing
this challenge despite the risk factors involved.

Equally important regarding timing: the Israeli dramatic escalation in the
region, followed a visit by Netanyahu to Washington, which, aside from many
standing ovations at the US Congress, didn’t fundamentally alter the US
position, predicated on the unconditional support for Israel without direct
US involvement in a regional war.

Additionally, Israel’s recent clashes involving the army, military police,
and the supporters of the far right suggest that an actual coup in Israel
might be a real possibility. In the words of Israel’s opposition leader
Yair Lapid: Israel is not nearing the abyss, Israel is already in the
abyss.

It is, therefore, clear to Netanyahu and his far-right circle that they are
operating within an increasingly limited time and margins.

By killing Haniyeh, a political leader who has essentially served the role
of a diplomat, Israel demonstrated the extent of its desperation and the
limits of its military failure.

Considering the criminal extent to which Israel is willing to go, such
desperation could eventually lead to the regional war that Israel has been
trying to instigate, even before the Gaza war.

Keeping in mind Washington’s weakness and indecision in the face of
Israel’s intransigence, Tel Aviv might achieve its wish of a regional war
after all.


*– Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle.
He is the author of six books. His latest book, co-edited with Ilan Pappé,
is “Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and
Intellectuals Speak out”. Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research
Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). His website is*
*www.ramzybaroud.net* <http://www.ramzybaroud.net/>
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