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Shanab departs gene pool
Israel killed a senior Hamas political leader in a missile strike Thursday, retaliating for a suicide bombing of a bus in which 20 people died including six children. The Islamic militant group threatened revenge and formally abandoned a truce declared eight weeks ago. Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas warned that the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Abu Shanab would make it harder to crack down on militant groups. Under pressure from Washington and Israel, the Palestinian leadership had decided on a clampdown just hours before his death.
Sure you did.
Abu Shanab was riding with two bodyguards in his gold-colored station wagon Thursday in Gaza City when five missiles fired from an Israeli helicopter hit the vehicle. The car burst into flames and three bodies were pulled from the wreckage. Fifteen bystanders were hurt.
Five missiles? Guess they wanted to make sure.
Dozens of Hamas supporters at the scene dunked their fists in blood, raised their hands and vowed revenge, chanting "God is great."
Bloody fists, dire revenge, must be the Religion Of Peace(tm).
Israel has routinely targeted members of Hamas’ military wing but rarely gone after the group’s political leaders. Abu Shanab, a U.S.-educated professor of engineering, was the third member of Hamas’ political wing to be killed in the past two years. Israel says the distinction between political and military leaders is insignificant, because both are involved in planning attacks.
The politicals pick the targets, the militaries pick the boomers and snuffies...
"There’s no question that there is a direct link between the heads of Hamas and the terrorists on the ground," said Israeli Foreign Ministry official Gideon Meir, though he would not say explicitly that Israel killed Abu Shanab.
"Might have been us, I just can’t say".
"Coulda been somebody else flying an armed heli around Gaza. Say! You don't suppose it was them Samoans, do you?"
Hamas formally called off a three-month truce it declared June 29.
Might as well make it official. The "ceasefire" went bye-bye when the bus did.
"We consider ourselves no longer bound by this cease-fire," said a Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, after identifying Abu Shanab’s decapitated body at a Gaza City morgue.
"Hold it up to the light so I can see.....OK, that’s him."
Hamas had carried out two suicide bombings despite the cease-fire, including the Jerusalem bus attack Tuesday that killed 20 people. The group had insisted these were limited retaliations for deadly Israeli raids and not violations of the truce.
Then just consider this a limited retaliation for your limited retaliation and not a violation of the non-truce.

This is a significant hit. Shanab's a member of the Hamas politburo. So is Rantissi, who was targeted (and missed, dammit!) just prior to the "ceasefire." Haniyeh's a member, too, I think. And of course Sheikh Yassin would make a nice target. If Israel doesn't decapitate Hamas and IJ, and then continue decapitating every time a new Great Leader™ steps up to the plate, they're not going to beat the Islamists.

Posted by: Steve 2003-08-21
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=17836