Israel kills new Hamas leader

[Styles 0]

Rantisi is Hamas' top leader in Gaza and one of the most hard-line members of the militant movement who rejects all compromise with Israel and calls for the destruction of the Jewish state.

 

Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy...

 

"We condemn in strongest possible terms this Israeli crime of assassinating Dr. Rantisi. This is state terror, and the Israeli government is fully responsible for the consequences of this action," Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat (search) said.

 

Oh, shutup, shutup, shutup...

 

During the mourning period for Yassin, Rantisi was defiant about Israel's threats against him.

 

"We will all die one day. Nothing will change. If by Apache or by cardiac arrest, I prefer Apache," he said.

 

Glad his wish came true...

 

Full article:

 

Hamas Leader Killed in Israeli Airstrike

 

Saturday, April 17, 2004

 

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — An Israeli missile strike killed Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi (search) as he rode in his car Saturday evening, hospital officials said. Rantisi's son Mohammed and a bodyguard were also killed in the attack.

 

The militant Hamas leader was one of Israel's top targets after it assassinated Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin (search) in an airstrike last month.

 

Rantisi's car was hit with missiles Saturday evening on the road outside his home, leaving only the burned, destroyed vehicle. After the explosion, Israeli helicopters were heard in the area.

 

Rantisi was taken to the hospital in critical condition, his body pocked with bloody wounds and blood streaming from his head and neck. He was taken to emergency surgery but died five minutes after arriving at the hospital.

 

Palestinian officials lashed the Israeli strike.

 

"We condemn in strongest possible terms this Israeli crime of assassinating Dr. Rantisi. This is state terror, and the Israeli government is fully responsible for the consequences of this action," Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat (search) said.

 

Witnesses said there were three people in the car at the time of the explosion. Five pedestrians were also wounded, hospital officials said.

 

The dead included Akram Nassar, 35, Rantisi's personal bodyguard and his son Mohammed, 27, hospital officials said. Rantisi's wife was in the car, but her condition and location was not known, hospital sources and Hamas said.

 

About 2,000 angry Palestinians marched through the streets carrying pieces of Rantisi's car shouting, "revenge, revenge."

 

Shooting was heard in the center of Gaza City and people were chanting Rantisi's name.

 

"This blood will not be wasted," said Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas (search) leader at the hospital. "We are not going to give up."

 

Rantisi is Hamas' top leader in Gaza and one of the most hard-line members of the militant movement who rejects all compromise with Israel and calls for the destruction of the Jewish state.

 

Israel had previously tried to kill Rantisi June 10 when three Apache helicopters fired at least seven missiles toward Rantisi's car in a crowded Gaza thoroughfare, reducing his vehicle to a scorched heap of metal. Rantisi escaped with a wound to the right leg. Two Palestinian bystanders were killed.

 

In a retaliatory attack the next day, 16 Israelis were killed in a Hamas homicide bombing in Jerusalem.

 

Israeli officials justified the attack as part of the ongoing battle against militants who have killed more than 900 Israelis in attacks over the past 3 1/2 years of violence.

 

"We have to continue this war, every time and every place. And this story with Rantisi shows how the army can get everywhere. We have to continue, we have no other choice," Cabinet Minister Gideon Ezra (search) told Israel Radio.

 

Israel has stepped up strikes on Hamas in advance of a proposed unilateral pullout from Gaza. Israeli officials have said they hope a string of military successes to show that the militant group was not driving it out of the coastal strip.

 

The explosion occurred Saturday night a block from Rantisi's house in the Sheik Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City, about 100 yards from where Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin was buried after Israel assassinated him last month.

 

Since then, Israel has vowed to kill the entire leadership of the Islamic militant organization.

 

Israeli sources said Saturday they struck at Rantisi at the first available opportunity and said he was planning a large attack on Israel to solidify his leadership of Hamas and to retaliate for Yassin's killing.

 

Israel has been on high alert for a homicide bombing since Yassin's March 22 killing. After Rantisi was killed, Israeli prisons holding Palestinian prisoners went on high-alert, fearing possible riots.

 

During the mourning period for Yassin, Rantisi was defiant about Israel's threats against him.

 

"We will all die one day. Nothing will change. If by Apache or by cardiac arrest, I prefer Apache," he said.

[Guest Banders Kennany]

That was quick. Burn in hell, Rantisi-fuck.

[Vern Gagne 0]

It's like the Spinal Tap drummers.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Or Kenny from South Park.

 

OMG, you killed the Hamas leader!

 

You infidel...

[The Czech Republic 0]

It's like the Spinal Tap drummers.

Well that means the next Hamas leader has to meet his doom by choking on vomit.

 

No. Just vomit. I never said it was his own.

[Styles 0]

It's like the Spinal Tap drummers.

Well that means the next Hamas leader has to meet his doom by choking on vomit.

 

No. Just vomit. I never said it was his own.

Police haven't confirmed WHO'S vomit it was that he choked on...

[bobobrazil1984 0]

Well... I'm glad I'm not going to be in Iraq right now. People in the Arab world seeing the timing of the attack, just like two days after Bush endorsed Sharon's plan, seem to think this was all Bush. I also feel bad for the US hostage over there.

As far as Israel's interests go, it was a good thing and right.

However, this hurts *us* a lot in Iraq.

[Firestarter 0]

We've let Israel do altogether too much work that's rightfully ours, frankly. I'm glad to see we're not issuing too many "statements" as moronic as some in the past - in context our response to this latest incident amounts to enthusiastic applause.

[Guest MikeSC]

Well... I'm glad I'm not going to be in Iraq right now. People in the Arab world seeing the timing of the attack, just like two days after Bush endorsed Sharon's plan, seem to think this was all Bush. I also feel bad for the US hostage over there.

As far as Israel's interests go, it was a good thing and right.

However, this hurts *us* a lot in Iraq.

Metro, honestly, nothing hurts us "more" in Iraq.

-=Mike

[Justice 0]

Well... I'm glad I'm not going to be in Iraq right now. People in the Arab world seeing the timing of the attack, just like two days after Bush endorsed Sharon's plan, seem to think this was all Bush. I also feel bad for the US hostage over there.

As far as Israel's interests go, it was a good thing and right.

However, this hurts *us* a lot in Iraq.

Why should it hurt us in Iraq? There is no connection to Iraq and terrorists, remember?

[Vyce 0]

Goddamn.

 

Sometimes Israel gives me SUCH a hard-on.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

I'm glad I'm not going to be in Iraq right now.

As opposed to the times where you are glad to be in Iraq?...

[Guest hunger4unger]

Israel don't have a clue do they. Killing the Hamas leader is only going to incite MORE violence. They should be civil and arrest Hamas members and put them in jail not assasinate them.

[Stephen Joseph 0]

Actually, THIS particular strategy is effective. How so?

There's an effectively perfectly elastic supply of people we can train to be suicide bombers...militaries do it all the time. Targeting Terrorist cells is stupid.

 

However, Hamas is not fully a terrorist org. 98% of it supports social/humanitarian services, but it gains legitimacy from the 2% that is terror related in the populace. Political leaders, then have an incentive to align with Hamas, even though they themselves are not involved in the more bloody parts.

 

The solution to the problem lies not in cutting supply but cutting demand. It means breaking the link between gaining positive benefits in palestination society with the prestige of suicide bombing. Break the link, the problem is gone.

 

How so? Make the strategy costly, but not for the guys its easy to recruit. Target the politicians who are tying themselves to the base, make it costly for the politicians and leaders to identify themselves to Hamas.

 

Demand side strategies...Damn I hate Keynes, but the man is right sometimes.

 

And no...putting Hamas leaders in jail wouldn't be enough of a cost to them...putting people in jail creates more causes than killing them. Look at history.

[Styles 0]

Israel don't have a clue do they. Killing the Hamas leader is only going to incite MORE violence. They should be civil and arrest Hamas members and put them in jail not assasinate them.

And then be forced into releasing hundreds of them back into the streets again, just to get back the bodies of a few dead Israeli soliders? Fuck Hamas. If peace is to be attained Hamas and the other terrorists organizations operating as faux governments need to be destroyed.

 

EDIT: Oh, and how thoughtless of me not to include a http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/myths/mftoc.html ISRAEL MYTH AND FACT OF THE DAY~!

 

MYTH

 

“Israel's policy of assassinating Palestinian terrorists is immoral and counterproductive.”

 

FACT

 

Israel is faced with a nearly impossible situation in attempting to protect its civilian population from Palestinians who are prepared to blow themselves up to murder innocent Jews. One strategy for dealing with the problem has been the peace process. Since 1993, Israel believed that negotiating was the way to reach peace with the Palestinians, but after Israel gave back much of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and offered virtually all of the remainder, the Palestinians rejected their concessions and chose to use violence to try to force Israel to capitulate to all their demands.

 

A second strategy is for Israel to "exercise restraint," that is, not respond to Palestinian violence. The international community lauds Israel when it simply turns the other cheek after heinous attacks. While this restraint might win praise from world leaders, it does nothing to assuage the pain of the victims or to prevent further attacks. Moreover, the same nations that urge restraint to Israel have often reacted forcefully when put in similar situations. For example, the British assassinated Nazis after World War II and targeted IRA terrorists in Northern Ireland. And, in the wake of the murderous attack by terrorists on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, it was revealed that the Clinton Administration had attempted to assassinate Saudi terrorist Osama bin Laden in 1998 in retaliation for his role in the bombings of the United States embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. The Administration of George W. Bush has said it also would not hesitate to kill bin Laden and has targeted a number of other al-Qaeda operatives.50 On November 4, 2002, for example, the United States killed six suspected al-Qaeda members in Yemen with a Hellfire missile fired from an unmanned CIA drone at the car in which they were traveling.51

 

“If you've got an organization that has plotted or is plotting some kind of suicide bomber attack, for example, and [the Israelis] have hard evidence of who it is and where they're located, I think there's some justification in their trying to protect themselves by preempting.”

 

— U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney52

 

 

In April 1986, after the U.S. determined that Libya had directed the terrorist bombing of a West Berlin discotheque that killed one American and injured 200 others, it launched a raid on a series of Libyan targets, including President Muammar Qaddafi's home. This was widely viewed as an assassination attempt. Qaddafi escaped, but his infant daughter was killed and two of his other children were wounded. In addition, a missile went off track and caused fatalities in a civilian neighborhood. Reagan justified the action as self-defense against Libya’s state-sponsored terrorism. "As a matter of self-defense, any nation victimized by terrorism has an inherent right to respond with force to deter new acts of terror. I felt we must show Qaddafi that there was a price he would have to pay for that kind of behavior and that we wouldn't let him get away with it."53 More recently, George W. Bush ordered “hits” on the Iraqi political leadership during the 2003 war in Iraq.

 

Israel has chosen a third option – eliminating the masterminds of terror attacks. It is a policy that has caused great debate in Israel, but is supported by a vast majority of the public (70 percent in an August 2001 Ha'aretz poll). The policy is also supported by the American public according to an August 2001 poll by the America Middle East Information Network. The survey found that 73 percent of respondents felt Israel was justified in killing terrorists if it had proof they were planning bombings or other attacks that could kill Israelis.54

 

Deputy Chief of Staff Major-General Moshe Ya'alon explained the policy this way:

 

There are no executions without a trial. There is no avenging someone who had carried out an attack a month ago. We are acting against those who are waging terror against us. We prefer to arrest them and have detained over 1,000. But if we can't, and the Palestinians won't, then we have no other choice but to defend ourselves.55

The Israeli government also went through a legal process before adopting the policy of targeted killings. Israel's attorney general reviewed the policy and determined that it is legal under Israeli and international law.56

 

Targeting the terrorists has a number of benefits. First, it places a price on terror: Israelis can't be attacked with impunity anymore, for terrorists know that if they target others, they will become targets themselves. Second, it is a method of self-defense: pre-emptive strikes eliminate the people who would otherwise murder Jews. While it is true that there are others to take their place, they can do so only with the knowledge they too will become targets. Third, it throws the terrorists off balance. Extremists can no longer nonchalantly plan an operation; rather, they must stay on the move, look over their shoulders at all times, and work much harder to carry out their goals.

 

“I think when you are attacked by a terrorist and you know who the terrorist is and you can fingerprint back to the cause of the terror, you should respond.”

 

— U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell57

 

 

 

 

Of course, the policy also has costs. Besides international condemnation, Israel risks revealing informers who often provide the information needed to find the terrorists. Soldiers also must engage in sometimes high-risk operations that occasionally cause tragic collateral damage to property and persons.

 

 

 

“I think any time people are doing suicide bombings and blowing up your people at bus stops and in restaurants, you certainly cannot sit there and tolerate that.”

 

— U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld58

 

 

The most common criticism of "targeted killings" is that they do no good because they perpetuate a cycle of violence whereby the terrorists seek revenge. This is probably the least compelling argument against the policy, because the people who blow themselves up to become martyrs could always find a justification for their actions. They are determined to bomb the Jews out of the Middle East and will not stop until their goal is achieved.

 

  Case Study

 

A Washington Post story about the “cycle of death” in the West Bank included an interview with Raed Karmi, an official in Fatah, the dominant faction in Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization. The report begins with the observation that Karmi is running out to join a battle against Israeli soldiers and grabs an M-16 assault rifle. What the story fails to mention is that only Palestinian police are supposed to be armed. The story implies that Israeli and Palestinian violence is equivalent in this “cycle” because Karmi said he was acting to avenge the death of a Palestinian who the Israelis assassinated for organizing terrorist attacks. Karmi admits that he participated in the kidnapping and execution-style murder of two Israelis who had been eating lunch in a Tulkarm restaurant. Karmi was jailed by the Palestinian Authority, but he was released after just four months and subsequently killed four more Israelis, including a man buying groceries and a driver who he ambushed. “I will continue attacking Israelis,” he told the Post.

[Dr. Tom 0]

Ah, more good news, courtesy of the Israelis. Now if only we could round up a few hundred "insurgents" and execute them, my day would be made.