From pre-liberation Israel when the Mossad was started by mostly Mizrahi Jews, to the recent awe-inspiring killing of Hamas’ top rat, Ismail Haniyeh, who of late has been the terrorist organization’s political head, the incredible Jewish spy agency continues to awe those on the side of good, and shock and infuriate those on the side of evil.
And how Haniyeh was killed is important. It was not a missile or drone strike while he was out and about in Tehran or Doha. He was killed at 2am local time while sleeping in his bed in a military-secured guest house within a diplomatic compound in Tehran. In mid-May, two Mossad agents paid off not just any Iranians, but IRGC agents within the Ansar-al-Mahdi unit (dedicated to protecting military personnel and dignitaries) and via remote control, three explosive devices in the guest house detonated this past Wednesday morning.
Haniyeh had been in Tehran in May for the funeral of President Raisi who died in a helicopter ‘accident.’ The Mossad knew he would most likely return for the inauguration of the replacement President.
Why would IRGC agents cooperate with Mossad? Speculation is that the IRGC wished to undermine the more ‘reform’ President
Pezeshkian who ran against a hardliner. Only issue with that assessment is that in mid-May, the IRGC would not have known that Pezeshkian would win. A more plausible theory is that if the Mossad agents were dealing with true believers and not defectors, that the help was delivered knowing full well Iran would need to retaliate after such a high profile assassination. Win-win situation for both Mossad and the IRGC, with the Mossad taking the gamble that Haniyeh had to be killed off no matter the consequences.
This sends a loud message to the Ayatollah that the Mossad can come for him too, and without too much difficulty. That is the success of killing of Haniyeh.
Of course Hamas replaced Haniyeh with Khaled Mashaal, Haniyeh’s deputy, but Mashaal is not as popular in Iran and Syria as he supported Syrian rebels against Assad. Is it worth it to Israel to assassinate Mashaal as well? Most likely not.
Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza since 2017, and who Israel saved with a brain operation, stupidly, will be a far harder kill as there is a lack of collaborators inside Gaza. Support for Hamas actually increased (from 57% to 71%) within that occupier population since Oct. 7th. The others are not against terrorists, they prefer the Islamic Jihad group.
Some surmise that Haniyeh was killed because he was impeding hostage negotiations. While true, many others on team terrorist, whether part of the Hamas delegation or from Qatar’s side have also halted hostage releases. Ultimately, to release (and retrieve) all the remaining 115 hostages, in addition to soldiers’ bodies that are being held, without harming Israeli civilians long-term, it is still on Israel to fully reclaim Gaza and fully subjugate the Arab occupier population if it doesn’t have the stomach to do what it should have done months ago via a full-on (legal) siege. To have shown no mercy to future murderers of Jews and their supporters.
Others still this past week have written how the killing of Haniyeh will halt or even reverse the political aspirations of Hamas or that the inroads into the Arab occupier population of Judea & Samaria will toggle back to the ‘more moderate’ Palestinian Authority. The fallacy in that assessment is that the China/Iran/Turkey/Russia/liberals in the U.S. & EU train is at full speed with the Arab occupier terrorists in both Gaza and in Judea & Samaria, and now more than half the world is resolute in establishing a terror Arab state in the Jewish homeland; an Arab state within the Jewish homeland already exists, Jordan, and was established in 1922 when Churchill stole 78% of the Jewish homeland, violating the legal British Mandate and turning the Mandate into an occupation.
Further, the terrorist PA, which was never ‘more moderate’ than Hamas, just was playing more the long-game, had been helping fund Hamas for decades, and recently, made their union official. Most Arab occupiers in Judea & Samaria support Hamas openly and is why Abbas has not held elections in nearly two decades. Not just that he is a dictator, but he knows that Fatah would lose to Hamas and badly.
The liberals in the West have already determined that the only resolution to the conflict, which is not a conflict whatsoever, but a war on Jews for the past over 100 years, is for Arab occupiers to have sovereignty over land which has been Jewish land since 145 BC (Gaza), and sovereignty in Israel’s ancestral heartland, Judea & Samaria, a region from where Jews literally emerged over 4,000 years ago.
It is up to Israel to have the political strength to ensure that it reclaims Gaza fully or a terrorist state will implant itself once again, but this time for good.
This past Wednesday, I attended the Tri-State FIDF fundraiser in Southhampton, NY. Although I de-activated from numerous major supposedly pro-Israel orgs (there are several smaller orgs who do a great job), who use antisemitic terminology and don’t do much to push back on Jew-hate, my participation with FIDF has increased. For those who may not know, FIDF (Friends of the IDF) was founded 42 years ago by Holocaust survivors.
The turnout was impressive! It was the largest pro-Israel fundraiser in the Hamptons since October. 7th.
Mosab Yousef was the featured guest. He is the son of one of the founders of Hamas – his father wrote the charter for the terrorist org. Mosab could have been just another terrorist, but he went against his family and for nearly a decade worked for the Shin Bet, saving countless Jewish lives.
Like many of you, I have watched the film, “The Green Prince” which tells his brave story and have seen videos of him testify at the UNHRC as a guest of UN Watch. Yet, I have not had the chance to hear him speak in person. What stood out the most, is how incredibly humble he is. The interviewer started out strong (before she went downhill by using antisemitic terminology in every question, not a good look for a Jewish journalist) and pointed out his heroism. Mosab pushed back and said he did his work on behalf of Israel not because of bravery but due to morality.
What followed showcases that Arab Zionists can be far more effective than most Jews in combating antisemitism: Mosab was clearly annoyed that the interviewer was using antisemitic terms and soft balling questions, so he took matters into his own hands, and was dynamic.
When the interviewer asked about the college student protestors, Mosab said “why do you care about the students, focus on the University Presidents, focus on your government, on the UN, the EU, why are you not calling out Kamala Harris for example?” – The crowd cheered loudly when he mentioned calling out Harris. Perhaps the tide is turning with Jews, then again Suffolk County did flip red in 2022. Jews who claim they are pro-Israel and ‘stand with Israel’ will vote for the only candidate who is not pro-terrorist. Jews voting for a Democrat, should not pretend to be pro-Israel.
Both Jihad Joe and Secretary of State Blinken said that the assassination of Haniyeh was ‘not helpful’ towards ceasefire talks. That says everything about the Democrat party.
Another highlight to share is perhaps the most important. Again, the interviewer went on about ‘Palestinians’ and Mosab growing up in the ‘West Bank’ – aka Judea & Samaria. We all know that ‘West Bank’ was a Jordanian occupation term from 1950. Mosab vehemently pushed back and asserted that there are no such thing as Palestinians or Palestine in association with Arabs. He explained that Hamas follows the hatred of Jews within Islam and uses the lie of Palestine to justify murdering Jews.
We know that Palestine is not actually a lie, it was just a colonizer term for Judea from 136 AD – 1948, but it is not Mosab’s job as a non-Jew to know that fact. I am grateful he loudly stated the truth regarding the non-existence of an Arab Palestine, and said to stop saying ‘radical Islam’ that it is all Islam. Mosab explained that though all non-believers of Islam are targeted in the Quran, the only group that is named are Jews.
Though Christians bore the brunt (Jews were treated as second class citizens, but more so Christians) of the dhimmi laws, the vile propaganda in mosques and Islamic schools, directed top-down by many Muslim nations was always aimed at Jews. That is a point Mosab truly homed in on.
At the start of the talk, Mosab mentioned that the October 7th genocide was an attack against humanity, but then he admitted it was an ethnic cleansing attempt against Jews, it was very much a Jewish genocide.
He also highlighted the bravery of the IDF, and recently completed a visit to the North with the IDF; there was a discovery of Hamas tunnels even on the northern border.
Of course, the killing of Haniyeh came up, as the event was held shortly after the assassination. Mosab was thrilled as he recounted it was Haniyeh’s phone call to him in 2007 that made him flee his home. Haniyeh had called him to carry out a major terrorist attack, he refused and the next phone call he received was another terrorist rat threatening his life. He said within days, he left without his property, his investments, all was abandoned.
For those who have not had the opportunity to hear Mosab Yousef speak in person, highly recommend attending if he comes to your area.