An Eye For An Eye…
Continuing in the finest tradition of ‘an eye for an eye’, Israel has decided to target Hamas institutions in Gaza. This comes as a bargain, since the head of Shin Bet, Israel’s security agency recommended that Israel should stop targeting Palestinian political leaders for assassination.
Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin pointed out that he opposes targeting Palestinian political leaders. “Has it helped us in the past?” he asked at a recent cabinet meeting.
Perhaps it has not helped Israel in the past, at least as far as Palestinians are concerned. Israel has targeted and assassinated countless opponents around the world over the last 40 years, with very limited success.
There have also been many accusations against Israel of carrying out a policy of political assassinations in Lebanon as well. Aside from many anti-Israel activists who have been assassinated there since the mid 70’s, a string of such killings over the last two years that have targeted anti-Syrian activists have also been attributed to Israel by many in Lebanon.
From the point of view of a cost-benefit analysis, it seems obvious that Israel has gained the most from these assassinations, beginning with former prime minister Rafik Hariri all the way up to the assassination of Pierre Gemayel on Tuesday. Each such death further weakened Syria’s influence in Lebanon and brought upon it international condemnation and isolation.
Perhaps it is more profitable today to kill one’s friends rather than one’s enemies…at least in Lebanon…
The views expressed on this blog are the opinion of the author and should not be taken as fact.