Al Mayadeen – July 31, 2024
Ismail Haniyeh's journey of Resistance: From exile to martyrdom
Providing an exemplary model of Resistance, from student activism to heading Hamas' political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh is martyred and joins the list of leaders who sacrificed everything for Palestine.
The Hamas Resistance movement mourned on Wednesday the martyrdom of the head of its political bureau and leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in a "treacherous Zionist strike" and assassination targeting his place of residence in Tehran, Iran. Haniyeh was in the country participating in the swearing-in ceremony of the newly elected Iranian president. 
Ismail Haniyeh was born in the al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza, on May 23, 1963, after his parents were displaced from Asqalan during the 1948 Nakba.
He received his degree in Arabic Literature in 1987 from the Islamic University, then earned his doctorate from his alma mater in 2009.
Political activism
Haniyeh's political activism began within the Islamic Bloc, the student branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Gaza Strip, from which the Hamas Resistance movement was born.
He was a member of his university's student council between 1983 and 1984, then acted as its president the following year.
In 1989, Ismail Haniyeh was arrested by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) for three years, then was exiled to the town of Marj al-Zuhur by the Lebanese-Palestinian border, alongside a group of Hamas leaders.
Following a year in exile, Haniyeh returned to Gaza and was appointed as the dean of the Islamic University.
In 1997, he was appointed as the head of the bureau of Hamas founder, Sheikh Ahmad Yassine, following his release from Israeli detention. He was later voted as the leader of the movement in Gaza, following the martyrdom of its previous leader, Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Rantisi, in 2004.
In December 2005, he headed the "Change and Reform" list, which won the second legislative Palestinian elections in 2006, with a majority vote. Shortly after, on February 16, 2006, he was nominated to take over the position of prime minister in Palestine and was officially instated on the 20th of the same month.
In May 2017, he succeeded Khaled Mashal to be the head of Hamas' Political Bureau.
Ismail Haniyeh has been a target of multiple political assassination attempts, the latest being in 2003, when the Israeli occupation launched an airstrike against a group of Resistance leaders following a martyrdom operation carried out by al-Qassam Brigades.
Operation Al-Aqsa Flood
When Hamas launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7, a cheerful Haniyeh appeared in a broadcast video, alongside several of the movement's leaders, from his Doha office. He had been following reports of the fighters of the Martyr Izz al-Din al-Qassam, the military wing of Hamas, seizing Israeli military vehicles, before leading a prayer to "thank God for this victory."
On April 10, six of Haniyeh's family members, including three of his sons and a number of his grandchildren, were killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting their car, after they had taken it to drive around the al-Shati refugee camp and celebrate with its residents in the spirit of Eid al-Fitr.
On June 24, 10 of his family members, including his sister, were killed in an Israeli attack that deliberately targeted their home in al-Shati refugee camp.
Amid their martyrdom, Haniyeh said, "Nearly 60 of my family members rest as martyrs, like the children of Palestine, they are no different," adding that the occupation thinks targeting the sons of Resistance leaders would break the will of the people of Palestine.
'We declare victory'
"My sons' and grandchildren's blood is not more precious than the Palestinian people's children's," Haniyeh said when his family members were murdered by "Israel", thanking God for the "honor" he was generously awarded, upon their martyrdom.
In a speech he gave in 2014, blasting the ongoing siege on the Gaza Strip, the martyred leader said, "We are a people who declare victory should you declare a siege upon us. If you wish to break the will of Gaza and its people, then [know that] we only kneel before God. Every decision-maker, inside and outside Palestine, should grasp the message of our people: We are a people that cherish death the way our enemies cherish life, we cherish martyrdom on the path of our leaders the way others cherish political offices. Take all the offices you wish and give us our nation."
Who was Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader assassinated by Israel in Iran?
Haniyeh lost about 60 members of his family — including three sons since Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza on October 7.
Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader who was assassinated in Iran, was the tough-talking face of the Palestinian resistance group's international diplomacy as Israel's war raged back in Gaza, where three of his sons were killed in an Israeli airstrike.
But he was seen by many diplomats as a moderate compared to the more hardline members of the Palestinian group inside Gaza.
Appointed to the Hamas top job in 2017, Haniyeh moved between Türkiye and Qatar's capital Doha, escaping the travel curbs of blockaded Gaza. This enabled him to act as a negotiator in ceasefire talks or to talk to Iran.
"All the agreements of normalisation that you (Arab states) signed with (Israel) will not end this conflict," Haniyeh declared on Qatar-based Al Jazeera television shortly after Hamas fighters launched the October 7 raid.
Israel's response to Hamas' attack has killed more than 35,000 people inside Gaza so far, according to health authorities in the territory, as the worldwide protests denounced the Israeli war as a "genocide" against Palestinians.
How Haniyeh entered politics?
As a young man, Haniyeh was a student activist at the Islamic University in Gaza City. He joined Hamas when it was created in the First Palestinian Intifada in 1987.
He was arrested and briefly deported.
Haniyeh built a close relationship with Hamas' founder, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, who, like Haniyeh's family, was a refugee from the village of Al Jura near Ashkelon.
In 1994, he told the Reuters news agency that Yassin was a model for young Palestinians, saying: "We learned from his love of Islam and sacrifice for this Islam and not to kneel down to these tyrants and despots."
By 2003 he was a trusted Yassin aide, photographed in Yassin's Gaza home holding a phone to the almost completely paralysed Hamas founder's ear so that he could take part in a conversation.
Yassin was assassinated by Israel in 2004.
Haniyeh was an early advocate of Hamas entering politics. In 1994, he said that forming a political party "would enable Hamas to deal with emerging developments".
Initially overruled by the Hamas leadership, it was later approved, and Haniyeh became Palestinian prime minister after the group won Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006, a year after Israel's military withdrew from Gaza.
The group took control of Gaza in 2007.
In 2012, when asked by reporters if Hamas had abandoned the armed struggle against Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, Haniyeh replied, "Of course, not" and said resistance would continue "in all forms - popular resistance, political, diplomatic and military resistance".
'Political and diplomatic front of Hamas'
When Haniyeh left Gaza in 2017, Haniyeh was succeeded by Yahya Sinwar, a hardliner who spent more than two decades in Israeli prisons and whom Haniyeh had welcomed back to Gaza in 2011 after a prisoner exchange.
"Haniyeh is leading the political battle for Hamas with Arab governments," Adeeb Ziadeh, a specialist in Palestinian affairs at Qatar University, said before his death, adding that he had close ties with more hardline figures in the group and the military wing.
"He is the political and diplomatic front of Hamas," Ziadeh said.
Haniyeh and Meshaal had met officials in Egypt, which has also mediated the ceasefire talks. Iranian state media reported that Haniyeh travelled to Tehran in early November to meet Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.
Three senior officials told Reuters that Khamenei had told the Hamas leader in that meeting that Iran would not enter the war having not been told about it in advance.
Children and grandchildren killed in Israeli airstrike
Haniyeh lost about 60 members of his family who had been killed since Israel's war on Gaza started on October 7.
Three of Haniyeh's sons - Hazem, Amir and Mohammad - were killed on April 10 when an Israeli air strike struck the car they were driving, Hamas said.
Haniyeh also lost four of his grandchildren, three girls and a boy, in the attack.
Haniyeh had denied Israeli assertions that his sons were fighters for the group and said, "The interests of the Palestinian people are placed ahead of everything" when asked if their killing would impact truce talks.
"If the criminal enemy thinks that targeting my family will make us change our position and affect our resistance, then he is deluding himself because every martyr in Gaza and Palestine is from my family," Haniyeh said.
"The blood of our martyrs demands that we do not compromise, that we do not change, that we do not weaken, but that we continue on our path with determination."
https://www.trtworld.com/middle-east/airborne-projectile-used-to-assassinate-hamas-leader-haniyeh-in-iran-18189686
https://www.trtworld.com/middle-east/who-was-ismail-haniyeh-the-hamas-leader-assassinated-by-israel-in-iran-18189711
Global condemnations for assassination of martyr Ismail Haniyeh
Reactions condemning the targeting of Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas' political bureau in Tehran at dawn today continue to pour in from Arab, Islamic, and international countries.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian mourned the head of the Political Bureau of Hamas, martyrﾠ Ismail Haniyeh, saying, "Iran mourns its partner in sorrow and joy, the longtime and proud companion on the path of resistance."
"Yesterday, I raised the victorious hand of Hajj Ismail Haniyeh, the martyr of Al-Quds, and today I must [carry him] on my shoulder to bury him," Pezeshkian said, adding that "Martyrdom is the art of the men of God; the relationship between the proud peoples of Iran and Palestine will be stronger than ever."
President Pezeshkian emphasized that the Islamic Republic of Iran will fiercely defend its honor and territorial integrity, ensuring that terrorist invaders deeply regret their cowardly actions.
Moreover, the spokesperson for the National Security Committee of the Iranian Shura Council, Ebrahim Rezaei, stressed that the assassination of Haniyeh is "a cowardly act, one whose perpetrators will undoubtedly receive a response."
He also noted that "the committee will hold an emergency meeting regarding the assassination."
Lebanon
The Lebanese government "strongly condemned" the assassination of Haniyeh after its session today, viewing it as an expansion of the circle of danger.
Yemen
In Yemen, the head of the Supreme Political Council, Mohammed Mahdi Hussein al-Mashat, considered "the martyrdom of the leader Ismail Haniyeh a great loss for the Palestinian people and the entire Islamic nation." He condemned "the sinful crime of assassination committed by the Israeli enemy, which has been floundering in its abject failure on all levels since October 7."
Syria
The Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned the "blatant Zionist aggression" that led to the martyrdom of the head of the political bureau of Hamas.
Afghanistan
Moreover, the Taliban movement also considered Haniyeh's martyrdom a "great loss for the nation."
Qatar
Meanwhile, the State of Qatar condemned in the strongest terms the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, in the Iranian capital, Tehran. Qatar described it as a heinous crime, a dangerous escalation, and a flagrant violation of international law.
China, Russia, Malaysia
China also condemned Haniyeh's assassination, with Russia calling it an "unacceptable political assassination."
Also, Malaysia condemned "the continuation of the crimes of the Zionist regime, which will make the region more unstable."
Turkiye's president condemns 'Israel’s' assassination of Haniyeh
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the assassination of Hamas’ Political Burea Chief in Tehran on Wednesday.
"I strongly condemn and curse the treacherous assassination carried out in Tehran against Hamas Political Bureau Chief Ismail Haniyeh," the president wrote on X, adding, that the act was "a despicable attempt to undermine the Palestinian Cause, the glorious resistance of Gaza, and the rightful struggle of our Palestinian brothers, aiming to demoralize, intimidate, and suppress them.”
The Turkish leader compared the assassination to previous attacks on Palestinian political leaders and Hamas members, highlighting that "Zionist barbarism will once again fail to achieve its goals."
Erdogan reiterated Turkiye’s commitment to establish a sovereign Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem while calling on the Islamic world to unite to end the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
The politician extended his condolences to Haniyeh's family and the Palestinian people after he concluded with a prayer for the martyr.
Haniyeh's assassination puts a damper on Iran's military machismo
Repeated intelligence failures that allow the Israeli state to kill anyone it wishes on Iranian soil do not reflect well on Tehran.
BY Ata Şahit
The assassination in Tehran of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh, celebrated as a hero for his struggle for the liberation of Palestine and revered by many freedom fighters worldwide for his political career, will spur a response, of which there are various scenarios.
One end of the spectrum, Haniyeh's killing could push the region to the brink of a new comprehensive war. On the other end, Iran may present a muted response.
Regardless of which scenario unfolds, it is clear that Haniyeh, the former prime minister of the Palestinian National Authority, was assassinated by Israel while on a diplomatic mission in Tehran.
This assassination, intended to escalate the conflict in Gaza to a regional scale and hinder peace efforts, highlights critical issues: Iran's security and intelligence failures and Israel's extensive operational capability within Iran.
Is this a new development, or have similar situations occurred in the past?
Israeli intelligence
An analysis of the crises between Iran and Israel in recent years reveals that a significant portion of these have been caused by Israeli assassination and sabotage operations against Iran.
The most recent Israeliﾠair strike on Iran's consulate building in Damascus, Syria, on April 1, 2024, andﾠIran's retaliatory targeting of Israel with missiles and drones on April 13, 2024, brought tensions between Iran and Israel to the brink of war. However, effective crisis management prevented a full-scale conflict.
When analysing the relations between Iran and Israel, it can be argued that this covert war between the two nations began with Israel's sabotage operations inside Iran and continued with its assassinations in Syria.
Since 2020, Iran has witnessed various sabotage operations carried out by Israel on itsﾠterritory. The most notable of these operations wasﾠthe explosion at Iran's Natanz Nuclear Facilityﾠon July 2, 2020.
In a statement, Iran's Supreme National Security Council said that the cause of the explosion had been determined, but would be announced at an appropriate time for security reasons, raising the likelihood that it was aﾠsabotage operation.
After this explosion, various allegations in the Iranian press claimed that Israeli intelligence agency Mossad has a strong intelligence and operational network inside Iran.
Indeed, the claims that the chief of Israel desk in the Iranian Intelligence Ministry during the presidency of former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad turned out to be aﾠMossad spy; the theft of documents related to Iran's nuclear activities—consideredﾠIran's cosmic secrets—by Mossad in 2018 and their transfer abroad; and Mossad's role in the assassination of key figures in the Iranian nuclear program were presented as evidence of Mossad's high operational capacityﾠwithin Iran.
Most recently, former Iranian Intelligence Minister Ali Younesi stated in a speech that Mossad has infiltrated many locations in Iran and that the safety of the statesmen of the country is seriously endangeredﾠbecause of this.
Israel's operations against Iran have not been limited to sabotage and assassination operations inside Iran. High-ranking commanders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force have also been targeted in Syria.
For example,ﾠSeyyed Razi Mousavi, Mohammad Reza Zahedi, and Mohammad Hadi Haj Rahimi, all senior commanders of the Quds Force, were assassinated byﾠIsrael in Syria.
In other words, such repeated sophisticated sabotage operations and pinpoint assassinations are evidence of the weakness of Tehran's counter-intelligence on one hand, and the ease with which Israeli intelligence can operate in Iran on the other.
The assassination of Haniyeh in Tehran is yet another painful addition to this long list.
Absence of Shia leaders
The assassination of Ismail Haniyeh has been a hot topic of discussion on Iranian social media, with many leaders of Shia militias, who are close allies of Iran, not attending the swearing-in ceremony of Masoud Pezeshkian, who won the presidential election in Iran.
Shia militia organisations constitute Iran's most important regional allies. In Iran's official literature, these Shia militia organisations are referred to as the 'Axis of Resistance' and are coordinated through the Quds Force.
The most important ofﾠthese organisations are the Lebanese Hezbollah, the Yemeni Ansarullah Movement, the Iraqi Badr Brigade, the Iraqi Asaib Ahl al Haq Organization, and the Iraqi Nujaba Movement.
Considering the names of those who attended Masoud Pezeshkian'sﾠinauguration, it is noteworthy that Haniyeh and Secretary General of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Ziad al Nakhalah attended the ceremony, while Secretary General of Lebanese Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah and Yemen's Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al Houthi did not attend.
Only Naim Qassem from Lebanese Hezbollah and Mohammed Abdulsalam from Yemen's Houthisﾠwere present. Additionally, it is noteworthy that the leaders of the Iraqi Badr Brigade, the Iraqi Asaib Ahl al Haq Organization, and the Iraqi Nujaba Movement, who frequently travel to Iran and are hosted at the highest level, were not present at the ceremony.
In other words, it is very likely that the leaders of Shiite militia organisations close to Iran chose not to visit Tehran due to security concerns. The assassination of Haniyeh by Israel in the centre of Tehran showed that the concerns of those who did not visit Tehran were not unfounded.
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Published since July 2008 |
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The Journal of America Team:
Editor in chief:
Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Senior Editor:
Prof. Arthur Scott
Special Correspondent
Maryam Turab
