New head of Hamas in Israel's sights

The Times (UK) ^ | 4/19/04 | Richard Beeston

[saquin]

WITHIN hours of the killing of Abdel Aziz Rantissi by the Israelis, the Palestinian militant group Hamas chose a grey-bearded and softly spoken physician to become its third leader in just under four bloody weeks in the Gaza Strip.

The appointment of Dr Mahmoud Zahar, 53, was kept secret as he joined tens of thousands of Palestinians at the funeral of Dr Rantissi.

Dr Zahar is married with children. He was for years best known as a working doctor and the personal physician of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Hamas’s spiritual leader, who was killed in an Israeli missile attack last month.

But in a secret selection process Dr Zahar was chosen to lead the organisation in Gaza, its birthplace and main support base.

The announcement was kept secret, but Palestinian, Israeli and Western sources quickly confirmed that the Egyptian-educated doctor had assumed the leadership — and with it an automatic place at the top of Israel’s hit list.

“There were no real other candidates for the leadership in Gaza,” a Western diplomat said. “Most of them have been killed. Not surprisingly Hamas is not going to make the announcement public.”

Dr Zahar was certainly not intimidated yesterday when he joined 70,000 Hamas mourners paying their last respects to Dr Rantissi, who died on Saturday night when the car he was travelling in was hit by a missile fired from an Israeli helicopter gunship.

“You can see (the future of) the movement in the sea of people here today,” said Dr Zahar, who last year survived an Israeli assassination attempt that killed his son. “We are committed to the policy of resistance and we cannot be swayed. Hamas cannot be defeated. Hamas cannot be broken.”

That defiance was being challenged in Israel last night. After Sheikh Yassin’s death, Hamas warned Israel that it had opened “the gates of hell”, and after Dr Rantissi’s assassination the group vowed a “volcano of revenge”.

But so far the organisation responsible for pioneering suicide bombings against Israeli civilians has failed to strike back, and Israeli security officials believe its “decapitation” policy is working.

“The rest of the leadership are on the run. When they’re fleeing they can’t organise or perpetrate terrorist acts,” said a spokesman for Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister. “We knew these targeted assassinations are not going to dismantle Hamas, but when the leaders spend more time on their protection or hiding out they lose their ability to operate.”

Despite international outrage at Dr Rantissi’s killing, Mr Sharon told cabinet colleagues he planned to continue striking terrorist organisations and their leaders. Ministers said that included Khaled Meshaal, Hamas’s external leader in Damascus, “the minute we have operational ability to do this”.

Killing Sheikh Yassin was easy as he followed the same routine each day. After assuming the leadership Dr Rantissi lived largely underground, appearing only when protected by crowds, but survived less than a month before the Israelis got him.

The outlook for Dr Zahar appears bleak. He has few places to hide from the prying eyes and ears of Israeli intelligence. Although Gaza’s narrow strip of land is teeming with more than a million Palestinians, the Israelis have built up an extensive network of informants who monitor the movements of key figures.

[saquin]

Mahmoud Zahar

[pogo101]

Soon to be overheard in Hamas HQ:

"No, no. You be chief. Hamas needs you now in this time of trouble."

"No, please, I insist. You've planned more bombings than I, praise Allah. It is your right. Your duty!"

"No, YOU be chief!"

"NO, YOU!"

[DigitalVideoDude]

Dead Man Walking

[MarineDad]

Pretty good "BEFORE" picture...let's see what he looks like a couple weeks from now. (Hint: Alpo)

[thoughtomator]

I'm surprised he hasn't be labelled a moderate yet. Guess it's time to change my tag (formerly "Waiting for Hamas to announce the name of the IDF's next target..."), though.


http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_article=594&x_context=2
Mahmoud al-Zahar

Israel has also targeted, but failed to kill Dr. Mahmoud al-Zahar. (Sept. 10, 2003.) Before the attack on al-Zahar, he was quoted in the New York Times praising the March 2002 Passover attacks against Israel:

“Forty were killed and 200 injured — in just two operations,”al-Zahar said with a smile.” (April 4, 2002.)

Al-Zahar once explained to the BBC that “all Israelis are militants ... [there are] no civilian Israelis.” (Oct 3, 2001)

[BCrago66]

Well it's a good thing for Dr. Mahmoud Zahar that his appointment was kept secret : )

[thoughtomator]

Wonder what he looks like with his brains splattered on the pavement.

[Slings and Arrows]

What's the over/under on the day of his "early retirement?"

[Agnes Heep]

Hopefully we won't have long to wonder what's behind that furrowed brow.

[Bonaparte]

...said Dr. Zahar, "Hamas cannot be defeated. Hamas cannot be broken."

Same thing Hitler said about his "thousand year Reich."

[Slings and Arrows]

Shhhh! It's a secret!

[Betaille]

"The appointment of Dr Mahmoud Zahar, 53, was kept secret"
Well Gee... That really worked. LOL

[RightWhale]

If Hamas violence ends now, the new leader will be okay.

[SeeRushToldU_So]

Mahmoud Zahar.........Next!

[vp_cal]

let's start a deadpool!

i'll begin:
Mahmoud Zahar will be
assassinated by 6/1/2004

[jimbo123]

Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar smiles from his hospital bed in Gaza City on Wednesday. An Israeli warplane narrowly failed in an attempt to assassinate Zahar but killed his son and a bodyguard in Gaza City on Wednesday. — Reuters photo 9/10/2003

[paul51]

Did anyone tell him he has just been chosen to have his head ventilated....err , I mean to be the leader?

[saquin]

Here's a handly little scorecard provided by the Times:

Rising toll among Hamas leaders

THE assassination highlighted the deadly risk of a leadership role in Hamas — arguably the most dangerous job in the world. The most prominent figures in the organisation in recent years have included:

Dead: Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. Founder, spiritual leader and figurehead. Quadriplegic, nearly blind and confined to a wheelchair. Established Hamas in February 1988 as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamist alternative to Yassir Arafat’s secular Fatah movement. Killed by Israel on March 22 this year.

Dead: Ismail Abu Shanab. A relative pragmatist within the political leadership. Not a familiar figure at public rallies. Assassinated last August.

Dead: Ibrahim Makadmeh. A senior Hamas strategist, killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza in March last year. Released in October 1997 as part of a deal by Israel to secure the freedom of two Mossad agents who had bungled an assassination attempt on Khaled Mashaal, the head of the group’s political office.

Alive: Dr Mahmoud Zahar. Sheikh Yassin’s personal physician and a relative hardliner within what remains of the senior political hierarchy. Perhaps the most high-profile remaining Hamas leader. He survived one assassination attempt last summer, but his son was killed.

Alive: Ismail Haniya. A relative moderate among the next generation of the Hamas hierarchy. Well known in Gaza. Hamas’s go-between with the Palestinian Authority.

Dead: Salah Shehada. Head of Hamas’s military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. Killed by a one-tonne bomb in July 2002 that killed up to 17 other Palestinians in Gaza.

Dead: Yehiyeh Ayyash, a master bomb-maker known as “The Engineer”, was killed by a booby-trapped mobile phone in Gaza in 1996.

Alive: Mohammed Deif. Believed to be Shehada’s replacement at the head of Izz al-Din. Israel’s most-wanted man and in permanent hiding.

Alive: Khaled Mashaal. Head of Hamas’s overseas political bureau, based in Damascus. A physics teacher born in the West Bank. Survived a bungled Mossad assassination attempt in 1997 when Israeli agents were captured in Jordan after trying to inject him with poison darts. The late King Hussein demanded the antidote and the release of Sheikh Yassin from prison in return for sending them back to Israel. He was expelled from Jordan in 1999 and moved to Syria.

Alive: Moussa Abu Marzook. Mashaal’s deputy. A US-educated engineer. Expelled to Jordan and then Syria. Will only be targeted by Israel if Ariel Sharon decides to launch assassinations in Syria.

[DoughtyOne]

New head of Hamas in Israel's sights

My first inclination was to say, "Pull the trigger!" Upon further thought I say this. Pull that trigger within 24 hours of the first act of terrorism that takes place under his command.

Cause and effect is a powerful motivational force.

[DannyTN]

The appointment of Dr Mahmoud Zahar, 53, was kept secret

LOL So naturally everybody knows.

[GEC]

You beat me to it.

[Pan_Yan]

[GEC]

Hamas has to be wondering now if there isn't some kind of Mossad mole in their leadership who is selling them out.

I hope there is.

[goldstategop]

We already know his identity? Told y'all a "secret" doesn't stay a secret for long in the Middle East, lol. This isn't the kind of job any normal person wants, unless one plans to dodge missles the rest of their life and seek a rendezvous with 72 virgins in the afterlife!

[AsYouAre]

As someone said on a thread yesterday, his nickname will now be "Short Straw".

[goldstategop]

We already know his identity? Told y'all a "secret" doesn't stay a secret for long in the Middle East, lol. This isn't the kind of job any normal person wants, unless one plans to dodge missles the rest of their life and seek a rendezvous with 72 virgins in the afterlife!

[dila813]

I give them a week or two

[Slings and Arrows]

Hamas has to be wondering now if there isn't some kind of Mossad mole in their leadership who is selling them out.

I hope there is.

[null and void]

Says it all:

Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar smiles from his hospital bed in Gaza City on Wednesday. An Israeli warplane narrowly failed in an attempt to assassinate Zahar but killed his son...

[Smartass]

[prairiebreeze]

Australian media reporting it is Khaled Mashaal who has emerged as Hamas new leader.

Why do I think that these top Hamas guys are just wishing the media would STFU!! LOL!!

Prairie

[Guillermo]

Someone start the Dead Pool.

[Guillermo]

I'm sure there are moles all over Hamas, but, for them to hide the identity of their new leader would show that they're scared of Israel.

They wanted this new goy to be made public for a reason.

[M Kehoe]

But in a secret selection process Dr Zahar was chosen ...

Damn, he got the short straw.

The doctor's life expectancy is now in question. As it should be.

5.56mm

[rogue yam]

That defiance was being challenged in Israel last night. After Sheikh Yassin’s death, Hamas warned Israel that it had opened “the gates of hell”, and after Dr Rantissi’s assassination the group vowed a “volcano of revenge”.

Oh, goodness! This sounds bad! And after Zahar buys it, what's next? A "whirlpool of woe"? A "traffic circle of trauma"?

[Salem]

Dr. Mahmoud "Short Straw" Zahar is the new head of HAMAS. Apparently we are supposed to play along that this is a big secret, so make sure you fall in line. It's one of those new warped political games we play, like "Islam is a religion of peace," and "Arafat is the legitimate elected leader of the "Palistinian" people and a recognized statesman."

Get the picture?  






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[rogue yam]

A "brutal Afghan winter"? A "QUAGMIRE"!!!!

[MarineDad]

"A heartbreak of psoriasis," too!

[davetex]

A "cyclone of seriesness"

[MNJohnnie]

Good Hunting Israel!

[Slings and Arrows]

A hurricane of hughness!

[MNJohnnie]

Wonder what he looks like with his brains splattered on the pavement

Better?

[whd23]

They wanted this new goy to be made public for a reason.

Ha ha ha! Nice slip

[davetex]

BRAVO

[saxxa]

BAMMMMMM !!!!!......Was that him ?.......BAMMMMMM!!!!!.........Was that him ????..........BAMMMMMM !!!!!...YOU GET THE POINT...WORKS FOR ME

[Ciexyz]

My local paper, the liberal Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, headlined Rantisi's demise as: "Israel kills Hamas leader." In contrast, the conservative Pittsburgh Tribune-Review headlined the story as "Israel kills militant."

I'm sure the Kerry campaign also views these leaders of homicide bombers as "Hamas leaders" instead of terrorist "militants".

[kjam22]

Dr Zahar was certainly not intimidated yesterday when he joined 70,000 Hamas mourners paying their last respects to Dr Rantissi,

Sure seems like Israel missed a golden opportunity.

[small voice in the wilderness]

A Deluge of Doom!!

[winker]

Or evenly spread out inside his Merceedes!

[Salem]

LOL!!