There’s a Difference Between Fighting Terrorists and Terrorizing Them

It turns out the targeted killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was even more daring than we thought. According to an investigation by The New York Times, Haniyeh was assassinated by an explosive device covertly smuggled into the Tehran guesthouse where he was staying.

The bomb had been hidden approximately two months ago in the guesthouse, which is run and protected by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and is part of a large fortress-like compound, known as Neshat.

Haniyeh, who had stayed at the guesthouse several times when visiting Tehran, probably felt very safe.

His assassination, then, must have terrorized those around him. Israel took Haniyeh down when he least expected it, just as it did a day earlier with the #2 man in Hezbollah, Fouad Shukr, in his hideaway in Beirut. Every enemy of Israel, in fact, must now be spooked, including the mother of all enemies who sponsors them all, Iran.

“Both operations will undoubtedly impact Hamas and Hezbollah capabilities going forward, even as they will force both groups to generate some type of response,” Israel Policy Forum analyst Michael Koplow writes. “But the intended audience was less the leadership of both groups as much as it was their Iranian patrons. The aim was to demonstrate to Iran that Israel is not the paper tiger on the verge of collapse that many of Israel’s foes increasingly see when they look toward Jerusalem, and to put to rest any doubts about Israeli capabilities.”

That is enormous value from two daring strikes.

Compare this efficient approach to fighting a conventional war, as Israel has been doing in Gaza for more nearly 10 months. It’s Israel’s longest war. The IDF has fought ferociously and has severely downgraded Hamas, as it is continuing to do. And yet, after so many lives lost on both sides and so much devastation and thousands of Hamas terrorists still entrenched in terror tunnels, one must ask: Has this war of attrition spooked any of Israel’s enemies? Has it helped Israel regain its mystique?

Part of me wishes that Israel would have launched its targeted killing campaign on Oct. 8 and called it “Operation Spook.” No one is arguing that a ground war was not called for– it was. But it might have had a lot more impact had it been supplemented by a campaign to take down big fish like Haniyeh and Shukr.

Let’s go back to that scene right out of “Fauda” or “Tehran” when Israel operatives smuggled that explosive device to take down Haniyeh. In that terrifying operation, they didn’t lose one soldier. They took out one terrorist and one bodyguard. No one else died. Israel kept its mouth shut. There were no loud declarations of total victories or defensive interviews on CNN explaining away massive collateral damage and civilian casualties.

No, there was just a sudden injection of fear in Israel’s enemies.

This kind of approach– speak silently and carry a wicked stick–spooks the top leaders. Instead of fighting them, you terrorize them. Unlike with regular wars, they never see you coming, and they can’t attack you for killing thousands of their people. And the blows can be lethal.

As military analyst Seth Frantzman writes in JPost, “[Haniyeh’s] loss is a major blow because Hamas will have a hard time finding a well-known, popular leader who also has experience in the region and can be the one to craft Hamas’s return to power.”

The point is, if your goal is to deter your enemy, taking down the top players can be highly effective. A leader who’s terrified is less likely to start wars, which means thousands of lives can be saved on both sides. That’s the kind of enemy you want– one who is afraid of making the wrong move.

Yes, it’s important to combat terror groups the traditional way and downgrade their capabilities. But it’s even more important to terrorize the leaders who give the orders so they’ll be a lot more hesitant to use those weapons.

It’s clear that Iran and its Hamas and Hezbollah proxies are now obligated to respond, if only to salvage their honor. As this happens, let’s hope things don’t unravel into an all-out war. Let’s also hope that this show of Israeli strength will  provide more incentive for Hamas to free the hostages.

For now, Israel’s foes have seen up close that Israel is no paper tiger. In the long run, this targeted killing approach may indeed help prevent wars and save thousands of lives. It’s not pretty but it seems to get the right people’s attention: terrorize the terrorists.