Yesterday, an apparent Israeli airstrike killed Ismail Haniyeh, the Qatar-based political chief of Hamas, as he retired to a Tehran house after attending the inauguration of newly installed Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Secretary of State Antony Blinken took to television to deny any American responsibility.
That is nothing about which to be proud. Certainly, Blinken may see such a statement as a way to de-escalate tension or at least prevent Iran and Hamas from going after American targets. The problem, however, is Iran and Hamas already target Americans. Blinken and many journalists may consider Pezeshkian a “reformer” but “Death to America” chants characterized his inauguration. As President Joe Biden, Blinken, and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan have sought to appease Iran, the Iranian government quite openly has put bounties on former government officials like Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Iran point man Brian Hook and has sought to kidnap Iranian and Iranian American dissidents from American soil. Showing weakness in the face of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps outrage does not bring security; it encourages aggression.
Don’t Fear Assassinating Terrorists
Nor should assassinating terror leaders be something from which the United States shies away. The United States first designated Hamas almost three decades ago. It did so because Hamas killed not only Israelis but also Americans. It targeted children and civilians. It specialized in bombing civilian buses, markets, and restaurants. It covenant openly embraced genocide. The only difference between the Islamic State and Hamas is that the Islamic State eschewed national borders while Hamas cloaked itself in nationalism as a preliminary step toward broader Islamist rule.
For decades prior to Biden’s rise, the United States did not shy away from targeting terrorists. President George W. Bush killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a man responsible for dozens of American and hundreds if not thousands of Iraqi deaths. President Barack Obama (over Vice President Biden’s advice) eliminated Osama Bin Laden. He then bragged about it on television. So, too, did President Donald Trump after eliminating Iranian Quds Force Chief Qassem Soleimani.
Why should anyone be embarrassed about killing Haniyeh? If any explanation is due, it should be whether or not the United States had the intelligence that Israelis did. If the answer is no, then Director of Central Intelligence William Burns should explain the failure. If the answer is yes, then Blinken should explain why the United States would not act on it.
The answer is likely Biden, Blinken, and Sullivan hope for diplomacy. To target Hamas, in such thinking, would be to undermine diplomacy to release American hostages. The problem with such logic, however, is two-fold: First, it incentivizes hostage-taking to give terrorist leaders a sense of immunity. Second, Hamas’s release of all hostages should be the starting point for any negotiations, not their endpoint.
The Biden team would likely never want to embarrass Iran, from whom they still seek a miracle diplomatic breakthrough. The reluctance to strike terrorists on Iranian territory, however, only shows the White House and State Department fail to understand the regime’s commitment to its own ideology.
Blinken’s statement that the United States was not responsible for Haniyeh’s death was truly cringe-worthy, an expression of weakness that further diminishes the United States in the eyes of its enemies. The only unfortunate aspect of Haniyeh’s demise was that Israel beat the United States to it.
About the Author: Dr. Michael Rubin
Dr. Michael Rubin is director of policy analysis at the Middle East Forum and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, or AEI.
