Liberman reportedly calls for Israel to assassinate Hamas leader Mashaal
According to Channel 2, Liberman said that killing Mashaal is the only way to ensure that further infiltration tunnels will not be built in the future.
By JPOST.COM STAFFKhaled Mashaal(photo credit: REUTERS)
Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said in a meeting of close associates that Israel should assassinate Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal despite the fact that he resides in Qatar, Channel 2 reported Monday.According to the report, Liberman said in the meeting that killing Mashaal is the only way to ensure that further infiltration tunnels from Gaza to Israel will not be built in the future.The foreign minister added that Mashaal was responsible for and had funded terror attacks which have killed hundreds of Israelis.Mashaal, the political bureau chief of the Palestinian Islamist group, was Hamas' Jordanian branch chief in 1997, when Mossad agents poisoned him to death in an assassination attempt in Amman.The Mossad agents were arrested by Jordanian authorities. King Hussein threatened to sever ties with Israel and to try the Mossad agents unless Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who ordered the assassination on Mashaal in retaliation for a suicide bombing committed in Jerusalem that year, turned over the antidote.After some hesitation, Netanyahu relented, and Mashaal's life was saved.
