Who did it?
The issue is the assassination of Imad Mugniyah, a ranking operative of Hizbollah, and high on the wanted lists of Israel, the United States, and numerous other countries.
He was credited with the bombing of the Marine base in Beirut that killed more than 200 Americans, explosions in Israeli and Jewish facilities in Buenos Aires that killed more than 100, plus assorted plane hijackings and other abominations.
People like him do not surrender at the local police station. Someone went after him, close to the center of Syria's capital, and got him with a bomb placed in or under his car.
Initial Israeli responses were said to be denials. More recently the commentators have been reading closely the official statement. They now find ambiguities as well as coyness in the expressions of key ministers. Whoever did it, Hizbollah and Iranian sources say that Israel was responsible and will pay the price.
The price may be heavy. It is conventional to say that the bombings in Buenos Aires came in response to an earlier Israeli attack that killed a Hizbollah leader and his family.
It is no surprise that Israelis are already arguing if the most recent killing was worth the price that may have to be paid. Insofar as the price may come from overseas Jews, they should ponder the consequences even if their representatives were not let into whatever forum decided about this. It will not be pleasant if a community center in Minneapolis, a synagogue in Britain, or a senior citizens' residence in Miami Beach comes tumbling down on its clients. Those kinds of facilities are less likely to be protected than Israeli installations here or abroad, and morality is not a prominent trait of Hizbollah, Hamas, Iranian, or Syrian operatives.
The argument of its worth turns on the importance of the figure. Israelis, Americans, and others are saying that he was not well known to the general public, but had been a key figure in planning details that took hundreds of lives. That somebody got to him in central Damascus will also shake the prestige of Syrian authorities, and may lead other figures like him to spend more time protecting themselves and less time working on their plans to destroy others. Mugniyah's colleague Hassan Nasrallah will be addressing his funeral via a large video screen, and not risking his own presence on a public platform.
Advocates of peace will concern themselves with the cycle of violence. Whoever did this will add a significant push to that cycle, and almost certainly cause harm to Israelis and/or overseas Jews. That harm will make its own contribution to continued cycles. All this is sad, but seems inevitable if we take seriously the frequent proclamations of Iran, Hizbollah, Hamas, and others that Israel must be destroyed. I recall one cease fire that the Palestinians and Israelis declared as of 6 AM. The Israelis withdrew their tanks from Gaza, but the first rockets landed in Israel before 11 AM. As long as rhetoric of hatred and destruction continues at its present intensity, Israel (if it did this) has few alternatives other than persuading its enemies that violence has a price. Insofar as they glory in their images of death and destruction, a bomb may be the best way of communicating with them.
There is also pride in accomplishment. Numerous Israelis seem to believe that this was our work. Doing it in Damascus adds to the appeal. Does it make up for the killing of an aged physicist in Dimona, or the leg of the young boy from Sderot? It is not in the same league as the rescue from Entebbe, but it is something that we need every once in a while.
Ira Sharkansky (Emeritus)
Department of Political Science
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
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