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Ex-Mossad Head Defends Meshaal Plot

[Al Jazeera-Qatar] Laila El-Haddad - Danny Yatom, today a Knesset member (Labor), was director of the Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency, at the time of the botched assassination attempt on Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal. Yatom says the plot to kill Meshaal - by injecting poison into his ear - was "a failure" but not "a mistake." In an interview with Al Jazeera, Yatom staunchly defends the assassination of Palestinians deemed "terrorists" by Israel. Q: In retrospect, was the attempt to assassinate Meshaal a mistake? Yatom: I don't think so because he was and still is the head of Hamas, and he was situated in Amman. Now he is situated in Damascus, but all the links between Gaza and the West Bank regarding Hamas and the terror attacks during those days...were to Khaled Meshaal. Yatom: The late Yitzhak Rabin [Israel's former prime minister] requested that King Hussein shut down Hamas headquarters in Amman. King Hussein refused. He said that his people can monitor Khaled Meshaal and his people better in Amman than if they were somewhere else. But the Mukhabarat [Jordan's security agency] did nothing. We had all the information. And Khaled Meshaal was the mastermind behind many attacks that claimed many lives. Yatom: After terror attacks in Jerusalem, Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister at the time, asked security chiefs to offer suggestions on how to fight Hamas - in addition to what Israel was then doing in the territories. Netanyahu asked me to go after one of the four heads of Hamas. Q: Would Israel assassinate Meshaal today? Yatom: The Israeli policy is that as long as there is terror, the terrorist must understand that anyone who executes terror will not enjoy immunity. Q: Without regard to international law? Yatom: With regard to what [former president] Bill Clinton said: there should be zero tolerance for terror. Q: Why did Israel allow Hamas to participate in the elections? Yatom: We were forced by the Americans to allow Hamas to participate in elections, and it was a dramatic mistake because it was against what was written in Oslo - that only parties, not organizations, that accept our right to exist will participate in elections. But it was under the pressure of President George Bush and Condoleezza Rice.
2008-04-23 01:00:00
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