By Daniel Greenfield, JNS
Like America, Israel has spent far too long fighting catspaws instead of the money and power behind them.
Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas's so-called political arm, was the Islamic terror group’s public face. Safely operating in Qatar and Turkey, state sponsors of terror, Israel took him out during a visit to Iran.
Taking out the Hamas boss after he met with Iran’s president obviously sends a message to Iran, and humiliates the regime. But it also tells a more disturbing story. Namely that Israel could have taken out Haniyeh in Qatar but chose not to do it because of the influence the oil-rich Islamic terror state wields over Washington, D.C., European capitals and Israel itself, where it has cornered the market on hostage negotiations.
Haniyeh had nothing to worry about in Qatar or in Turkey, a terror state that doubles as a NATO member. He only had to worry when he was in Iran. But Qatar and Iran are allies. And the corrupt power that Qatar wields over the free world through its bribes, its Al Jazeera influence operation and its numerous agents should be disturbing.
Hamas is just one of the many examples of Qatar’s ability to wield its influence on behalf of Islamic terrorists. Haniyeh is better off dead, but like America, Israel has spent far too long fighting catspaws instead of the money and power behind them.
What the assassination of the Hamas leader really means is that no one will touch Qatar or its terrorists.
“We condemn in the strongest terms the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political bureau of Hamas, in the Iranian capital Tehran. We consider it a heinous crime, a dangerous escalation, and a flagrant violation of international and humanitarian law,” Qatar’s statement argues.
Qatar doesn’t consider Oct. 7 a dangerous escalation, but it does consider killing Hamas terrorists a dangerous escalation. And that same approach has been adopted by the Biden admin and the European Union.
