In Case You Missed It, Israel Eliminated a Hamas Leader

In case you missed it, Israel eliminated a senior Hamas leader in Gaza.

That sentence may sound like the opening line of a news bulletin. But it is really a reminder of something much larger: Israel has long understood that those who plan the murder of Jews cannot be allowed to hide behind ceasefires, foreign capitals, diplomatic formulas or the passage of time.

The Hamas figure reportedly killed, Izz al-Din al-Haddad, was no minor operative. He was described as a senior Hamas military commander and one of the remaining figures tied to the Oct. 7 massacre. Some commentators have treated his elimination as evidence of a “new” Israeli policy: that Hamas leaders will receive no immunity merely because there is a ceasefire.

But there is nothing new about that principle.

After the 1972 Munich massacre, when Palestinian terrorists murdered 11 Israeli athletes and coaches at the Olympic Games, Israel did not simply issue statements and move on. It pursued those responsible. The campaign became known as Operation Wrath of God. The point was not vengeance for its own sake. It was a declaration that murdering Israelis would carry consequences, even if the killers escaped the immediate scene of the crime.

That lesson remained part of Israeli security doctrine for decades.

In 1995, Fathi Shikaki, the founder and leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, was killed in Malta. Shikaki’s organization was responsible for the attack that murdered my daughter, Alisa, and seven others near Kfar Darom earlier that year. His organization did not fight Israel like a normal army. It murdered civilians and then relied on distance, denial, foreign sponsorship and international hesitation to protect its leaders.

That is how terrorism works. It is asymmetric warfare.

The terrorist chooses the time and place of attack. He targets civilians. He hides among civilians. He uses borders, tunnels, safe houses, mosques, charities and diplomatic language as shields. Then, when Israel responds, he demands that Israel follow rules he never had any intention of honoring.

That cannot be the standard.

There is a basic moral difference between targeting civilians and targeting the commanders who plan attacks on civilians. Hamas murdered families in their homes, young people at a music festival, soldiers on bases and civilians in border communities. Israel, by contrast, seeks to identify those who planned, ordered and directed those crimes.

Of course such operations require intelligence, judgment and restraint. No serious person should pretend they are simple. But no serious person should pretend that a terrorist commander becomes immune because he survived the first round of fighting or because diplomats have arranged a pause.

A ceasefire is not an amnesty.

That is the central point. If a Hamas leader helped plan Oct. 7, supervised hostage-taking, directed Hamas forces or helped rebuild the organization for the next round, then his responsibility does not disappear because the world is tired of the war. Israel is not required to wait until Hamas is fully rearmed before acting again.

This is not only about punishment. It is about deterrence.

Terrorist leaders must know that there is no comfortable retirement plan after mass murder. No safe exile. No immunity in Doha, Cairo, Beirut, Tehran or Gaza. No rule that says Jewish blood may be spilled, but Jewish self-defense must stop at the border, the calendar or the negotiating table.

The message to Hamas should be very clear. If its leaders want a future, they must end Hamas rule, disarm and return every hostage and every hostage’s remains. If they insist on preserving Hamas as an armed force, they should not be surprised when Israel continues to treat them as combatants.

Israel’s critics will call this assassination. They always do. They said it after Munich. They said it after Shikaki. They said it after Israel targeted Hamas leaders during the terror war of the early 2000s. They will say it again now.

But Israelis have a better word for it: self-defense.

A small Jewish state surrounded by enemies cannot afford the luxury of forgetfulness. It cannot allow the organizers of massacres to wait out the news cycle and reappear as political actors once foreign governments grow impatient.

So, yes, in case you missed it, Israel eliminated a Hamas leader in Gaza.

The real story is not that Israel has adopted a new policy. The real story is that Israel still remembers the old one: Those who organize the murder of Jews should never assume they are beyond reach.