I am not an historian, but have read considerably in American, Native American, and Middle Eastern history. And I think the use of and dependence on assassination in war is a folly. Common sense and history tell us that when a leader is assassinated from the outside, someone else jumps in to take his—it is mostly still “his”—place. There is an endless string of wannabe leaders, and assassinations radicalize some while they promote new leaders.
The assassinations of Hamas leaders in Gaza continues, long after the country was destroyed and thousands of innocents were killed. Do we think that attitudes among the survivors will be more hospitable to Israel—or the US for that matter—than they were pre-war? Can we tie the divisions within the American Jewish community to Israel’s pursuit of enemy leaders and the collateral damage to the civilian population of Gaza and the West Bank? Probably. And add increasing attacks on Jewish institutions across the world. And, for that matter, increasing Islamophobia. The disregard for international law and the endless nature of Netanyahu’s quest to kill leaders—now roiling in Lebanon and a centerpiece of policy in Iran—have left Israel a “pariah state” in the minds of many across the globe. Unfortunately, innocent Jews across the world, no matter their politics or religious zeal, will be harassed for Israel’s actions.
How successful have Israel’s assassinations in two years of war in Gaza really been? The killing of thousands of innocent civilians—the collateral damage—has accompanied the policy of leadership assassination. The end result is a country in physical, emotional, and political shambles, and Israel facing international criminal charges. Things seem to be heading that way in Lebanon and now Iran.
Forgiveness and diplomacy offer a different way. In Syria the brutal Assaad regime was overthrown from within, by a leader who emerged from an organization we had labeled as terrorist! Now, we embrace President Al-Sharaa and thank him for ending the Assad regime as we enumerate the many abuses of that government and its war on its own people. This week, one of Assads jailkeepers, Samir Ousman Alsheikh, 73, a former Syrian brigadier general who headed the Damascus Central Prison between 2005 and 2008, was tried and convicted of war crimes in an American court!
Israel has its own historical example of forgiveness and diplomacy, or in this case integration into national politics. Menachem Begin, once leader of Irgun, the terrorist group that fought against the British Mandate and famously bombed the King David Hotel, went on to become prime minister and win the Noble Peace Prize for his efforts to resolve the Palestinian issue.
This week, Israel has assassinated the man who has some experience dealing on the international stage and just might become a Al-Sharaa or Begin, and followed it with three or four more assassinations of Iranian leaders. We don’t know who or what comes next.
Do Zelinsky and his NATO allies have the war in Ukraine wrong? Should the free world get behind President Zelinski and target Putin directly? Should the US gather allies in an effort to assassinate Kim Jong Un and capture and destroy North Korea’s nuclear threat. Can we find another unfavorable—and hopefully unpopular in his own country—leader to assassinate in hopes of more favorable country to country relationships?
In all such cases it is obvious that the assassination, or even its attempt, would be followed by chaos. So why do we keep following Israel on this senseless journey? Like alcoholics, the purveyors of assassination and collateral mass destruction of civilian life think that this time we will get sober. That more of the same will lead to a different conclusion.
Good luck!
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