Israel Warns of Attacks on Hamas Leaders

WaPo reported Israeli military aircraft carried out a fourth day of airstrikes in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, and Israel's defense chief suggested that leaders of the radical Palestinian group Hamas might be assassinated if rocket fire into southern Israel did not stop.

This is a good idea. The Hamas leaders fear being targets themselves. But I believe that to fully get their attention, the Israelis need to respond to each rocket attack with overwhelming distruction: of the area that launched the attack, the area where the ones launching the attack fled to, the location of some of their bomb and rocket factories, and the leaders of the attacks. That won't convince them not to attack, but being dead will, and perhaps the magnitude of the Israeli response will convince others not to try to do the same thing.

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz singled out Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyya and Mahmoud Zahar in his warning. He said that unless attacks from Gaza ceased, Israel would send the men "to where Abdel Aziz Rantisi and Sheik Yassin are." Ahmed Yassin, one of the founding leaders of the Islamic Resistance Movement, as Hamas is formally known, was killed last year by an Israeli missile strike in Gaza City. Israel assassinated Rantisi, who succeeded Yassin, less than a month later. Israeli officials have said they would respond to attacks from Gaza far more vigorously after ending Israel's 38-year presence in the strip earlier this month.