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Middle East
Shanab departs gene pool
2003-08-21
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

#6  Modify the op orders. Fire one missle, kill goblins in car. Wait for Dire Revenge crowd to gather and start blood ritual (ugh!). Fire remaining missles.

You can't make an omlette...
Posted by: mojo   2003-8-21 2:37:59 PM  

#5  I can solve this problem. Fire the missiles. The last missile deploys a few time-delayed bomblets. The Paleos will figure this out after the first second tenth time. Then you can have wonderous TV images of Paleos standing around at the fringes after a missile attack frustrated and screaming because they CAN'T dip their fists in blood. I like it.
Posted by: Steve White   2003-8-21 1:52:42 PM  

#4  Yea Becky, almost like they fired the missle a bit early. Ever notice how the Paleos scramble arouond like a beehive thats been tampered with.
Posted by: Lucky   2003-8-21 12:54:36 PM  

#3  Didn't that hit on Rantissi actually scare them enough to declare the "hudna?" To give them time to change their undies?
Posted by: seafarious   2003-8-21 11:50:48 AM  

#2  Dozens of Hamas supporters at the scene dunked their fists in blood, raised their hands and vowed revenge, chanting "God is great."

SHeesh. Too bad one of the missles wasn't time delayed. The Palestinian's have a PR problem when people like me, who carefully catch spiders and take them outside, couldn't care less when they kill these *&^%$#s. In fact...make that... I'm glad he's dead. Yeah..that's right. The cold hearted irony is that each time they kill one of their leaders we are one death closer to peace.
Posted by: Becky   2003-8-21 10:25:16 AM  

#1  Hamas will start foaming at the mouth, get a few more big dogs popped, then they will hit the mattrasses and go u/g. Keep it up IDF an rid the earth of this scum.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2003-8-21 9:41:06 AM  

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