MK Tibi: Israel won’t achieve security through assassinations

Arab-Israeli Knesset member Ahmed Tibi offers his condolences during a gathering in the municipality of of Turmus Ayya near the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on June 24, 2023. [AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images]

Member of the Israeli Knesset, Ahmed Tibi, said Israel’s policy of assassinating individuals will never bring it security because “peoples cannot and will not be assassinated”.

Speaking at the Knesset on Monday, Tibi said in 1992 Israel assassinated Abbas Al-Musawi, the former secretary-general of Hezbollah, and at the time it was believed the conflict with Hezbollah had ended as a result. However, Tibi continued, after Al-Musawi, Hassan Nasrallah took over and was more radical towards Israel than his predecessor.

He warned that after Israel assassinated Nasrallah on Friday, the group is now planning to appoint Hashem Safieddine who is more radical than his predecessor.

Tibi said in 2002, Israel also arrested Raed Karmi, leader of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Palestine, which sparked a new intifada, and assassinated deputy commander-in-chief of the Qassam Brigades, Ahed Al-Jabari, which brought in the new Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar.

“What have you gained? Assassinations have not and will not bring you security,” he added.

Since 23 September, the Israeli occupation army has launched the most violent and wide-ranging attack on Lebanon in almost 20 years, killing over 1.000 people, including children and women, and wounding thousands more.

READ: After Nasrallah’s assassination, what’s next for Israel?

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