By Just hours after joining a chant of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel,” the political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in his quarters while in Iran.
Hamas announced its political leader Ismail Haniyeh had died following an Israeli strike in the Iranian capital of Tehran.
The Hamas leader had previously praised the use of civilians as human shields in Gaza, saying, “Their pure blood is for the liberation of Jerusalem and Al Aqsa, and we will continue to march on our road, and will not hesitate and will not falter. With their blood, we bring about hopes, a future and freedom for our people and our cause.”
CNN reports that “Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed to avenge Haniyeh’s death. ‘You killed our dear guest in our house and now have paved the way for your harsh punishment,’ he said, referring to Israel. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US was ‘not aware of or involved in’ the killing of Haniyeh.”
In response to the killing, writes The New York Times, “Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has issued an order for Iran to strike Israel directly, in retaliation for the killing in Tehran of Hamas’s leader, Ismail Haniyeh, according to three Iranian officials briefed on the order.
Mr. Khamenei gave the order at an emergency meeting of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council on Wednesday morning, shortly after Iran announced that Mr. Haniyeh had been killed, said the three Iranian officials, including two members of the Revolutionary Guards. They asked that their names not be published because they were not authorized to speak publicly.”
Although America does not appear to have played a role in the killing of one of Hamas’s leaders, pro-Hamas Democratic activists in the United States responded to Haniyeh’s death with a call for violence.
One of the earlier leaders of Black Lives Matter, Shaun King, has claimed to be “furious” that Israel eliminated his “dear brother,” according to The Washington Examiner.
King voiced his outrage in a series of posts on Telegram on Wednesday and further proclaimed his support for Hamas’s violent “resistance to the Zionist war criminals” in response to the assassination of Haniyeh.
“These genocidal monsters think that this weakens Hamas, or weakens the resistance, but it does neither,” King said. “It will only strengthen both.”
He also accused the United States of being involved in the assassination. However, a military official told Fox News that the U.S. did not have any involvement. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin did not confirm if Israel was behind the strike that took out Haniyeh when asked by reporters, as the U.S. was ostensibly not given notice of the attack.
Drawing from Nelson Mandela’s previous statements, King endorsed the idea that Palestinians “have the right to armed resistance” against what he characterizes as Israeli “apartheid,” and when nonviolent methods of “liberation” fail, “we must pursue liberation with violence — AS ALL FREE PEOPLE DO.”
Pro-Palestine activists recently ransacked the nation’s capital following a speech by Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before a joint session of Congress.
Protesters cheer as a man spray-paints “HAMAS IS COMIN” on Columbus Fountain in Washington DC pic.twitter.com/tbh7t2NjyU
— Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) July 24, 2024
Security officials have been worried that Hamas could strike targets in France as Paris hosts the Olympic Games.
The assassination came following the bombing of a soccer field in Israel by Hezbollah that left 12 children dead. Israel responded to the attack by killing a Hezbollah commander in Beirut overnight. The twin killings have led to a rising concern that the region could become engulfed in an all-out war.
The Associated Press explained that “the assassination was potentially explosive amid the region’s volatile, intertwined conflicts because of its target, its timing and the decision to carry it out in Tehran. Most dangerous was the potential to push Iran and Israel into direct confrontation if Iran retaliates. The U.S. and other nations scrambled to prevent a wider, deadlier conflict.
In a statement on his official website, Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said revenge was “our duty” and that Israel had “prepared a harsh punishment for itself” by killing “a dear guest in our home.”
Bitter regional rivals, Israel and Iran risked plunging into war earlier this year when Israel hit Iran’s embassy in Damascus in April. Iran retaliated, and Israel countered in an unprecedented exchange of strikes on each other’s soil, but international efforts succeeded in containing that cycle before it spun out of control.”
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