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On Tuesday, 10 Israeli warplanes penetrated Qatari airspace and bombed a residential building in the capital of Doha, sparking international outrage, condemnations by Qatar and the gulf states, rare criticism from the White House, and some light historical retrospect among the region’s reporters.
The action, claimed as a de solus operation by Tel Aviv, is one of over a dozen it has carried out on Palestinian leadership dwelling abroad going back 50 years.
These assassinations have taken place in countries from France to Iran. They’ve targeted multiple iterations of Palestinian organizations, including leaders of Fatah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the PLO, and Hamas.
Assassination operations began following the conquest of most of Palestine by the Jewish state in 1948. With their homeland taken, multiple Palestinian terrorist organizations began coordinated terror and resistance campaigns. This resulted in a coordinated effort to assassinate the leaders of these groups outside of Palestine.
In 1972, Ghassan Kanafani, founder of the PFLP, was killed in Beirut when Mossad agents planted a bomb in his Austin 1100.
A highlight of the Palestinian terror actions was the 1972 Munich Olympics attack which left 11 Israeli athletes dead. The group responsible for the attack was called the Black September Organization, one that was controversially linked to the existing resistance/political organizations Fatah and the PLO, but which was probably at least an undirected affiliate.
In what was stated retaliation for Munich, Mossad agents shot Fatah spokesman Abdel Wael Zwaiter multiple times in Rome, where he worked as a translator for the Libyan embassy. Israel accused him of being linked to the Black September, but PLO representatives said he was in no way connected. Indeed time and further investigation has almost certainly proven his innocence.
A year later, Zaiad Muchasi, the Fatah representative to Cyprus, was killed by a bomb—this time in his hotel room in Athens. His death coincided with a larger Mossad operation that assassinated other Palestinian leaders in Lebanon. In June 1973, Mossad again turned to the car bomb to assassinate Mohamed Boudia, a senior member of the (PFLP).
At this point, Israel was still claiming its agents were hunting down those responsible for the Munich attacks.
Further assassinations
In 1979, Ali Hassan Salameh, the founder of the Black September, was killed with a car bomb by Mossad agents, seemingly concluding the Munich revenge train. But the assassinations didn’t slow down in the 80s.
In 1983, ’85, ’86, and ’88, Israeli agents killed the PLO official Mamoun Maraish, shooting him down on his motorcycle in Athens; bombed the PLO headquarters in Tunis, Tunisia, killing 60 including family members, and wounding another 60; shot PLO leader Khaled Nazzal in the head in Athens; and gunned down deputy PLO leader and military chief Khalil al-Wazir in Tunisia.
In 1997, by the time Hamas was gaining power in Palestine with backing from the Likud Party, Israel attempted to assassinate the group’s polit bureau chair Khaled Meshaal, in Jordan. Mossad agents aimed to inject a poison into the man’s ear, but failed, and were arrested. King Hussein of Jordan negotiated a deal with Netanyahu to send over an antidote. It’s believed, Middle East Eye reports, that Meshaal was to be at this 2025 meeting in Doha.
In 2004, Israel once again targeted a Palestinian leader in Lebanon, killing Izz el-Deen Sheikh Khalil with a car bomb. In 2010, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, who was an alleged gun runner for the al-Qassam Brigades, was killed by Israeli agents in a hotel room in Dubai, having entered the country on forged Irish passports, sparking a three-way diplomatic incident.
In January of last year, another senior Hamas member was killed in Beirut, while 6 months later, Israel bombed a building in Tehran, where the third chairman of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, was residing.
Now in Doha, at least 6 people from Hamas have been reported to have been killed, including Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya’s son, Hammam, and his office director. The object of the bombing was the Hamas delegation in Doha which had long been negotiating a ceasefire and return of hostages.
Of course Yasser Arafat, founder of Fatah and leader of the PLO, evaded several attempted assassinations over the course of his life, and the strange sickness that consumed him are presumed to have been an Israeli poisoning. WaL
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PICTURED ABOVE: Ismail Haniyeh’s funeral (left) and photos of Abdel Wael Zwaiter’s killing in Rome, 1972 (right). PC: Khamenei.ir via. CC: 4.0. Int. and Fondazione del Lelio e Lisli Basso.
