Coming on the heels of strikes that killed Hamas military commander in Khan Younis and Hezbollah military commander in Beirut, the assassination in Tehran of Hamas鈥檚 political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, sent clear messages to Hezbollah, Hamas and, most important, Iran. Haniyeh was in Tehran for the inauguration of Iran鈥檚 new president, who was elected last month following his predecessor鈥檚 death in a May helicopter crash. Iran鈥檚 failure to protect a high-level guest at a state event suggests to the world that its security services are deeply penetrated by Israel. This is a devastating demonstration of incompetence for a regime that depends on terror to survive.
In some quarters, Haniyeh is being eulogized as a moderate and Israel鈥檚 attack on him condemned as prolonging the war. This is not quite as nonsensical as it sounds. There were hopes in Qatar, Gaza, Turkey and Iran that the U.S. could be bamboozled into supporting a cease-fire leading to a 鈥渕oderate鈥� Hamas government in a unified West Bank-Gaza Palestinian protostate under Haniyeh鈥檚 leadership.
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