Op-Ed video: Netanyahu's only goal is to set the region on fire
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is intent on bringing the Middle East to the precipice of all-out war, following the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah's top military commander, Fuad Shukr.
In killing a mild man like Haniyeh, who did not hide underground but lived out in the open, and who dedicated his career to negotiations and engagement with the Islamic world in Qatar, Turkey and Iran, Israel has killed a leader it could one day need to negotiate a hudna, or long-term ceasefire, says David Hearst, the editor-in-chief of Middle East Eye.
In person, Haniyeh was amiable, mild-mannered, an attentive listener, modest - the complete diplomat. He was never one to speak ill of Fatah or Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
If, as now must be obvious even to the Israeli military, it will not be able to defeat or disable Hamas in Gaza, Israel will need people in Hamas to negotiate with. They have just killed one of them.
From a strategic point of view, Israel’s action is madness. This is not my word, but that used by former Israeli General Amiram Levin, who added, with some understatement, that the "security forces should've strongly opposed" the move.
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Even without a ceasefire, Haniyeh was worth more to Israel alive than dead.
Israel could have plausibly argued to a western audience that it would not surrender Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant to the International Criminal Court in The Hague while another of those named in the ICC’s application for arrest warrants, Haniyeh, was free to live in Qatar and roam around the region.
The views expressed in this video belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
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