Recent Israeli Assassination Attempts

I was questioned about assassinations and kidnappings.

Too many to go into, I meant it. At the end of October when this headed up again Israeli decided to use it's American built helicopters and air craft to target its top fifty list of terrorist suspects. They killed seven in seven days and numerous bystanders. Since Sharon has been in power the orders have been to kill anyone he wants and ignore collateral damage. Here's the few examples Elimis wanted.

- Hebron, Dec. 10, 2001. Palestinian activist Muhammad Sidir, 24, had his face maimed and burned and his eyes blinded by a U.S. made Israeli helicopter firing missiles in a crowded intersection during an assassination attempt on Sidir. Two Palestinian children died in the attacks and two other children were injured. Israeli helicopter gunships hovered over the carnage for five minutes, preventing immediate medical attention from being administered to the wounded and dying.

- The right-wing Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot on November 25 had an article by Alex Fishman, reporting that the Israeli government was aware that the Palestinian Authority had finally prevailed on Hamas in mid-November to accept a deal in which Hamas would refrain from any suicide attacks within Israel's pre-1967 borders.

This deal broke down after the November 23 Israeli assassination of Hamas leader Mahmoud Abu Hanoud which, according to Fishman, was exactly what Sharon's government wanted. 'Whoever gave a green light to this act of liquidation knew full well that he is thereby shattering in one blow the gentleman's agreement between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority,' Fishman wrote. 'Whoever decided upon the liquidation of Abu Hanoud knew in advance that that would be the price. The subject was extensively discussed both by Israel's military echelon and its political one, before it was decided to carry out the liquidation. Now, the security bodies assume that Hamas will embark on a concerted effort to carry out suicide bombings, and preparations are made accordingly.'...Sharon is driving Palestinian society more and more to the right, to the fanatics, which is calculated to create the results he wants.

"...In 1923, radical Zionist Ze'ev Jabotinsky-spiritual father of not only of Menachem Begin but of Meir Kahane-wrote that the "sole way" for Jews to deal with Arabs in Palestine was through 'total avoidance of all attempts to arrive at a settlement.' Not coincidentally, a picture of Jabotinsky graces Sharon's desk.

Fishman is the conservative military analyst for the pro-Likud newspaper.

- Elie Hobeika, a key witness in the Sabra-Chatila war crimes case being pursued in a Belgian court against Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, was blown up outside his house in Beirut on Jan. 24, 2002, together with three bodyguards and a civilian bystander. The car-bomb was reported the work of Mossad, the Israeli secret service. The explosion occurred two days after Hobeika agreed to give evidence against Sharon in Belgium. Hobeika had met Belgian Senators Josy Dubie and Vincent van Quickenborne in east Beirut, agreeing to be a witness at any trial of Sharon for the Sabra and Chatila massacre. Sharon denied the charges. Previously Mossad had mistakenly killed the teenage son of the leader of the Bureij refugee camp in a similar car bomb and has continued to make mistakes.

- Jan 15, 2002 - Time magazine described the assassination of Dr. Thabet on December 31 by describing him as a leader of Fatah (the legally recognized Palestinian political party) in an area of the Palestinian ghetto where there had been unrest. I could point out that this is like justifying the murder of a black dentist by the L.A.P.D. because he was a leader of the Democratic party in an area of the Los Angeles ghetto experiencing unrest.

The most famous kidnapping case is Mordecai Vanunu who gave a London newspaper photographs that proved Israel was lying when it said it had no nuclear weapons. Shimon Peres decided not to have him assassinated, as urged by many - Seymour Hersh -The Samson Option, but made him an example by kidnapping him and placing him in solitary confinement for 18 years. He is due to be released in 2004.

Elimis seems to have no moral problem with killing numerous woman and children as long as you were trying to also kill one suspect. Doesn't that seem to be going a bit beyond an eye-for-an-eye?

Note at no point have I attempted to justify Palestinian suicide bombings but wish people to consider what they seem to be supporting.

Anticipation

I anticipate two arguments, One it is an eye-for-an-eye or better because it is not as bad as the Palestinians are doing - directly targeting civilians. This seems to be their entire justification, as long as there was a military target killing innocents up to some number - 50, 100, 500, 1,000, 10,000? - is OK. This is like tearing down Jenin with civilian casualties is justified because at least they didn't carpet bomb a town of 27 thousand.

Two, Mordecai Vanunu is not a comparable case, he released a military secret and paid the price. I admit that (although it was an illegal kidnapping on foreign soil) and I also admit I can't find recent cases of Israel kidnappings, they have decided it is too much trouble.

I got them and a couple others.

Answers about Hobeika, Sabra and Shatila

According to the Israeli historian Benny Morris, basing his summary on the work of the two most eminent chroniclers of the Lebanon war, the Israeli journalists Ze'ev Schiff and Ehud Ya'ari, Sharon "met with Phalange commanders Fadi Frem, Khobeika, and others to coordinate the impending action in the camps (Sabra and Shatila.) He spoke of killing the 'terrorists': 'I don't want a single one left.'

The militia soon entered the camps -- under Israeli illumination flares -- and the massacre began, with Israeli troops nearby. It lasted uninterruptedly for more than 30 hours. Sharon failed to tell a Cabinet meeting that the Phalangists had been sent into the camps. Both he and Foreign Minister Shamir were told during the massacre that atrocities were being committed, but did nothing. Some Israeli officers suspected what was going on and tried to intervene, but ineffectually. Reports of the massacre picked up by Israeli intelligence and military observers were treated as specious. Many of the camp residents themselves, used to small arms fire, were apparently unaware of the massacres. Whether the Israeli leaders were actually unaware of the atrocities, as they maintained, or simply unconcerned has never been proven.

After the massacre, Israel appointed the Kahan Commission, a board of inquiry appointed to look into the massacre. The commission compared Israel's responsibility for the atrocity to that of the Russian authorities when Jews were slaughtered during 19th century pogroms. Sharon took the lion's share of the blame for the attacks; the commission recommended that he resign or be discharged. Sharon refused to resign. Finally, Prime Minister Begin reluctantly reassigned him as a Cabinet minister without portfolio.

So according to Israeli historians and a government commission the answer appears to be Sharon ordered the killings at Sabra and Shatila

Hobeika said that his testimony would prove his innocence, although the Kahan Commission also named him as the principal war criminal at Sabra and Shatila.

After the car bombing, very similar to other Mossad car bombings, some Israeli newspapers named Syria as the most likely suspect. Why? Hobeika was very prominent and had served three times in their government.

So who on earth would want to murder a key witness for the prosecution in a war crimes indictment against the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon?

About "Suspected" Terrorists

That is one thing about all of these assassinations. When they get their target, if they get their target, they are all "suspected" or "alleged" terrorists.

I don't claim I have any answers to what to do about the Middle East but this violence was expected as soon as the present Israeli government was elected.

It's like a feud, every person you kill creates 10 friends and relatives vowing to strike back. When you don't care who else you kill along with your target, you get 100 more vowing to strike back.