Israel’s military and political leaders are openly threatening to resume the campaign of assassinating important Palestinian figures, a move that would surely trigger another spasm of intifada bloodshed after the relative calm of the last three months. Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the quadriplegic spiritual leader of Hamas, has been named as a prime candidate for liquidation. And given Hizbullah’s soaring prestige in the Arab world after the recent lopsided prisoner exchange, its leaders in Lebanon are no doubt in the crosshairs as well. The scores of assassinations the Israelis have carried out since the intifada broke out in September 2000 have mainly been the work of undercover army units like the Sayeret Metkal, the elite “Chief of Staff’s boys,” special helicopter gunship crews or agents of the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service which maintains a vast network of Palestinian informers and collaborators inside the occupied territories. These turncoats, many of them coerced into working for the Israelis, have provided much of the intelligence that pinpointed those marked for death. Full Story
About OODA Analyst
OODA is comprised of a unique team of international experts capable of providing advanced intelligence and analysis, strategy and planning support, risk and threat management, training, decision support, crisis response, and security services to global corporations and governments.