Al Mayadeen – August 2, 2024
After his body arrived in Doha, martyr Haniyeh is laid to rest
Crowds of worshippers have attended the funeral prayer of Hamas chief martyr Ismail Haniyeh in Doha.
The body of martyr Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the political bureau of the Hamas movement, arrived at the Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab Mosque in the Qatari capital, Doha, amid a large official and popular attendance.
Attendees performed the funeral prayer for the martyr after the Friday prayer before he was laid to rest in Lusail.
Crowds of worshippers began arriving early in the morning at the Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab Mosque to participate in the funeral prayer.
On Thursday, the leader of the Revolution and the Islamic Republic, Sayyed Ali Khamenei, led the funeral prayer over the bodies of Haniyeh and his security guard, martyr Wassim Abu Shaaban.
During the funeral procession, Khalil al-Hayya, deputy head of Hamas, delivered a speech emphasizing that Haniyeh's martyrdom would further the unity of the Islamic World and the Resistance in the struggle for the liberation of Palestine.
In Turkiye, a large popular gathering held a prayer in absentia for the soul of Haniyeh, who was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike that targeted the Iranian capital, Tehran, early Wednesday.
The assassination occurred during Haniyeh's visit to Tehran to attend the inauguration ceremony of Iran's new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, following a meeting with Sayyed Khamenei.
Türkiye retorts after Israel scolds envoy for mourning Haniyeh
Türkiye on Friday responded to Israel for summoning its deputy envoy for a reprimand after the Turkish Embassy in Tel Aviv lowered its flag to half-mast in response to the assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh.
“The State of Israel will not tolerate expressions of mourning for a murderer like Ismail Haniyeh," Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a statement after summoning the Turkish envoy.
In a response on X, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Öncü Keçeli said: “You cannot achieve peace by killing negotiators and threatening diplomats.”
Haniyeh was killed in Tehran while there to attend the inauguration of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Israel has not made any official claim of responsibility for his death, but Iran and its allies, including Hamas and Hezbollah, have accused Israel of the assassination and vowed revenge.
President Tayyip Erdoğan declared Friday, Aug. 2, a day of national mourning for Haniyeh.
Katz's statement said Haniyeh had been Hamas leader during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed some 1,200 Israelis and foreigners and saw more than 250 taken hostage in Gaza, triggering Israel's assault on the coastal enclave, which has killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians in ten months of relentless bombing, mostly women and children.
Tensions between Israel and Türkiye have risen sharply since the start of the war in Gaza as Ankara has cut off commercial ties with Tel Aviv, with Erdoğan repeatedly trading barbs with Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu.
Ankara considers Hamas a liberation movement, unlike the majority of the Western world, and hosted Haniyeh in Türkiye several times to discuss cease-fire efforts and the humanitarian aid crisis in the blockaded enclave.
Will Türkiye 'invade' Israel?
by Yusuf Ziya Durmuş
President Erdoğan’s comments on possible action against Israel reveal Türkiye's frustration and its stance on Palestinian support amid the rising tensions and international debate
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan embodied the voice of millions seeking action against Israel by hinting at intervening against what he described as a murderous regime, but Türkiye’s battle cry is simply this: a call to international unity.
“Not so fast!” “Why not?” “Yeah, but...” These were the reactions to Erdoğan’s recent remarks, which were interpreted as a threat of an invasion of Israel by certain media outlets, from Fox News to Israeli media.
The remarks of the Turkish president, who has always been candid about what he thought of the Israeli administration, were somewhat ambiguous. “Just as we entered Karabakh and Libya, we can do something similar to them,” Erdoğan said to fellow members of his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) last week. Though Türkiye did not “enter” Karabakh, it openly supported Azerbaijan’s operations to take back the said territory illegally occupied by Armenians. As for Libya, Türkiye sent troops to support the North African country’s U.N.-backed administration. So, “invasion” has never been the case.
So, how should we interpret Erdoğan’s remarks? First of all, they demonstrate the anger of a man frustrated over international inaction to stop Israel, whose massacres targeting innocent Palestinians have claimed nearly 40,000 lives since last October Since then, Erdoğan has led Turkish efforts to stop Israel by diplomatic means, to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid for Palestinians and, more importantly, to bring sides to the table for a permanent, two-state solution to the decades-old conflict.
In return, Türkiye incurred the wrath of the Netanyahu administration, which was about to restore already severed ties with Ankara before the new round of the conflict began. This time, they did not play the “anti-Semitism” card like they did with their critics. Israeli officials, in turn, accused Türkiye of the “genocide” of Kurds and supporting Hamas, considered a liberation movement by Türkiye and those opposing Israel’s war crimes but labeled a bunch of terrorists by Tel Aviv. Erdoğan’s latest remarks allowed Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz to threaten Erdoğan by reminding him of the grim fate of Iraq’s ousted leader Saddam Hussein. Katz later urged NATO to expel Türkiye.
These developments show that a mere sentence implying intervention is enough to irk Israel and bring us to another interpretation of Erdoğan’s remarks. Sometimes, words speak louder than actions. Erdoğan apparently intends to highlight Türkiye’s determination to stand with Palestinians in the face of the West’s unflinching support of Israel’s war crimes and unite the rest of the international community around Türkiye to stand against the genocidal regime of Netanyahu. Indeed, Erdoğan said in the same speech that Türkiye needs to be strong so that Israel would not dare to do again what it already did in Palestine. Bear in mind that Erdoğan was the only leader in the region to openly criticize Israel’s policies toward Palestinians with his famous “one minute” confrontation in Davos in 2009 with Israeli President Shimon Peres.
Türkiye has never been an “invader” and under Erdoğan’s leadership, it has been a tireless advocate of diplomacy. As a matter of fact, it improved ties with countries it once came to the brink of war with, such as Greece, and even reached out to Egypt and Syria to normalize relations. As for the deployment of troops, it only acts in self-defense, such as in its military offensives in Syria and Iraq against the PKK terrorist group, the most immediate threat to Türkiye’s security. But make no mistake. It is also stronger than ever in terms of defense with a rapidly flourishing local defense industry.
Speaking of a stronger defense, it has never been needed more than now as Türkiye fears a spillover of the conflict Israel attempts to spearhead into the wider Middle East. Tensions between Israel and Lebanon proved it right and if the conflict goes beyond that, Türkiye will be among the most affected countries.
Right now, military intervention in Israel is a dream of a restless public lamenting daily massacres. Social media users already share illustrations of Erdoğan leading Turkish troops into Israel and public support for the Palestinian cause never waned as proven by countless demonstrations by activists across Türkiye since Oct. 7 against Israel’s crimes. Erdoğan’s statements undoubtedly dispelled the desperation and comforted those feeling that the world will forever remain silent in the face of the genocide of women and children in Palestine.
Can Türkiye dare challenge the murderous regime in Tel Aviv, which counts as a superpower, and most of Europe among its allies? The answer is not a clear no. Challenging Israel militarily needs a united front and once those Türkiye seeks to mobilize exhibit an iota of unity, even a warning to the Netanyahu administration will be sufficient to put fear in the hearts of his War Cabinet. There is always hope, and even the recognition of the State of Palestine by several European countries constitutes a step toward that unity.
https://www.dailysabah.com/opinion/op-ed/will-turkiye-invade-israel
A Palestinian journalist visited Ismail Haniyeh’s home in Gaza to report on his death. Israel assassinated him too
Al Jazeera reporter Ismail al-Ghoul had become a household name for anyone following the war on Gaza. When he went to Ismail Haniyeh’s hometown to cover a commemoration of his killing, Israel assassinated him too.
By Tareq S. Hajjaj
The assassination of Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh has led to a new turning point in the war. In Gaza, a state of mourning is apparent.
The assassination that took place in Tehran at dawn on Wednesday opened raw wounds for many in Gaza. It added to the ongoing cycle of fear and loss that has not ended since October 7.
The Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, mourned Ismail Haniyeh and said in a statement that the assassination that took place in the heart of the Iranian capital was a critical and dangerous event that would take the battle to new dimensions and would have major repercussions on the region.
“By targeting Ismail Haniyeh, Israel imagined that it could weaken the Hamas movement and the Palestinian resistance, and this is a great illusion,” Muhammad al-Hindi, deputy head of Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s political bureau, said during a TV interview.
People in al-Shati’ refugee camp west of Gaza City, where Ismail Hamiyah was born and raised, received the news early in the morning. His home there lays in ruins, bombed by Israel several months prior, and people had gathered around it to commemorate the slain leader. Children held up his picture while standing next to the rubble of his home.
One of the people who was there to capture the scene was a reporter with Al Jazeera whose name was also Ismail. He had become a household name in his own right for anyone following the war’s developments, especially in northern Gaza where the fighting has been the most brutal.
Al Jazeera correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul was assassinated by Israel in the line of duty as he covered the commemoration of Ismail Haniyeh. He and another journalist who was a part of his team were in a clearly identifiable press vehicle when a missile directly hit them. It killed both reporters and a young boy walking by. The strike left Ismail al-Ghoul’s body headless.
The death of the two Ismails within the span of a few hours has hit the people of Gaza hard.
“Israel is trying to take away everything from Palestinians, even their pride in such leaders and journalists,” Mahmoud Essa, a journalist in northern Gaza who attended al-Ghoul’s funeral, told Mondoweiss. “The Israelis are sending us a message with every assassination — look what happens to the journalist who goes to film Hanyieh’s destroyed home; we’ve bombed his head off.”
Remembering Ismail al-Ghoul
When the genocidal war first started, Ismail al-Ghoul had resolved to remain in the north to cover the war, sending his wife and little daughter south to escape the fighting.
Anas al-Sharif, a colleague of Ismail at Al Jazeera, appeared in a video standing beside Ismail’s headless body. Holding the press vest that he had worn at the time of his assassination, al-Sharif said that despite his belief that a vest would protect him, it did nothing to save Ismail. Al-Sharif lamented that it was now stained with Ismail’s blood and scattered remains.
As journalists and others carried his body for the funeral, a rescue officer arrived with a plastic bag to collect pieces of Ismail’s head for the burial, Mahmoud Essa told Mondoweiss.
The death of their colleague was a harsh reminder to journalists of the dangers faced by reporters in Gaza, forcing many to confront the grim realities of their profession.
One of the most poignant tributes that circulated was a letter Ismail had written to his daughter, Zeina.
On June 30, Ismail posted the letter on his personal Facebook account. He expressed sorrow over not having seen her since the war began and lamented missing her growth and presence.
“At the beginning of the war, when my little girl Zeina was crawling and trying to say ‘baba,’ I was at my happiest. But as the war continued, my heart was heavy knowing she was displaced and far away,” he wrote.
“Zeina would call out to me when she saw me on the screen, saying ‘Baba.’ It was a wonderful feeling, but it didn’t last. For nine months, she asked, ‘Where is Baba?’ The pain of not being with her and watching her grow was immense.”
He concluded, “But we find solace in knowing that we sacrificed everything for this cause and this message.”
|
Published since July 2008 |
Your donation
is tax deductable.
The Journal of America Team:
Editor in chief:
Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Senior Editor:
Prof. Arthur Scott
Special Correspondent
Maryam Turab
