[News] Assassinations can't end Resistance, no image of victory for 'Israel'

[Anti-Imperialist News]

english.almayadeen.net
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/assassinations-can-t-end-resistance--no-image-of-victory-for>
Assassinations can't end Resistance, no image of victory for 'Israel'
Al Mayadeen English
March 20, 2024
------------------------------

An Israeli intelligence expert says that history has proven that the
assassination of Resistance leaders only increases the groups' strength and
determination.
[image: d96ce659-f54e-4d33-983a-32b907e5214b.jpg]

   - Palestinian Resistance fighters of Hamas' al-Qassam Brigades take part
   in a gathering in Gaza City on January 31, 2016. (*AFP*)

Assassinating Resistance leaders has proven to be a failed policy to eliminate
or defeat
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/-israel--failed-to-find-an-alternative-for-hamas--israeli-me>
their groups, a piece published by Israeli newspaper *Haaretz *concluded.

Commenting on recent Israeli claims that they assassinated Hamas' senior
leader Marwan Issa, Yossi Melman, an Israeli intelligence analyst, said
that this course of action will not eliminate the movement, emphasizing
that Hamas is deeply rooted in Palestinian society; in the West Bank, Gaza,
Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and even outside the Middle East.

He pointed out that the most common Israeli illusion is that "decapitation"
will help "make the Palestinian problem disappear," a belief held by many,
even in the security and military establishments.

*Read more: Israeli forces failed on October 7, Halevi says amid new row
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/israeli-forces-failed-on-october-7--halevi-says-amid-new-row>*
Israelis patting themselves on their back

With the brutal war on Gaza nearing the 6-month mark, the Resistance shows
no signs that it will be "raising its hands" and surrendering, rather, it
has continued its fight, the writer added.

Additionally, the movement's determination is evident in the fact that its
fighters have managed to return to areas that the Israeli army claimed to
have occupied in Gaza, most notably in the northern and central parts of
the Strip.

On the other hand, the Israeli army intentionally exaggerates the ranks of
Resistance leaders assassinated, or their position within their groups,
aiming to pat itself on the back and inflate the extent of its success
against Hamas.

*Read more: 'Israel' wants prisoner swap without 'paying price': Resistance
source
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/-israel--wants-prisoner-swap-without--paying-price---resista>*

However, the reality on the ground is more complex, according to Melman, as
the Resistance has inflicted many losses against the Israeli army in terms
of soldiers and officers
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/-israel--admits-to-death-of-soldier-5-months-later>,
with hundreds killed since the start of the invasion of Gaza and several
thousands injured as well.

Moreover, there are "invisible" injuries, as many in the Israeli army
suffer from post-traumatic stress disorders, which may manifest months or
years after the end of the fighting, as per the piece.

Furthermore, it has been proven that one of the hypotheses that the
occupation has been promoting, that senior Hamas leaders "hide with
prisoners in tunnels to use them as human shields," is not true, Melman
said.

*Read more: Israeli forces execute 50 Palestinians in Al-Shifa, including
children
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/israeli-forces-execute-50-palestinians-in-al-shifa--includin>*
No military victory

The *Haaretz* report added that for decades, many Israeli governments and
security and military institutions have been "fond of using the method" of
assassinations. However, the entity's top ministries, in addition to the
security, military, and intelligence establishments, have "failed to
formulate an assassination doctrine."

Melman affirmed that it must be remembered that assassinations "have a
limited and short-term impact" in all cases. In this context, it referred
to the assassination of Hezbollah leader Imad Mughniyeh in 2008 in the
Syrian capital, Damascus, in a joint operation by Mossad and the CIA.

He also recalled the United States' assassination of IRGC's al-Quds Force
commander, martyred General Qassem Soleimani
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/Soleimani's%20impact%20on%20Al-Aqsa%20Flood%20can't%20go%20unnoticed:%20Hamas%20official>,
in Baghdad in 2020, pointing out that it "did not lead to a strategic
shift, as Hezbollah and the Quds Force continue their work with strength
and determination."

In light of this, the intelligence expert concluded that "Israel should not
revel in assassinations... it must understand that they are not everything,
and they are not a substitute for strategy."

*Read more: 'Israel' lost the war against Hamas: Res. General Yitzhak Brik
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/-israel--lost-the-war-against-hamas--res--general-yitzhak-br>*

The war on Gaza "will end without an image of victory for Israel, and even
the assassination of Hamas leaders will not change this reality," Melman
stressed.

"The only way to extricate Israel from the quagmire of Gaza is a multi-arena
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/-israel--losing-on-several-fronts--nyt>
strategic political action," in Gaza and the West Bank within occupied
Palestine, regionally in the Middle East, as well as on the international
level.
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