Salah Shehade
Salah Mustafa Muhammad Shehade | |
---|---|
صلاح شحادة | |
Ahmed al-Jabari | |
Personal details | |
Born | 24 February 1953 Beit Hanoun, Gaza |
Died | 22 July 2002 Gaza City, Gaza | (aged 49)
Nationality | Palestinian |
Political party | Hamas |
Occupation | Military commander, politician |
Salah Mustafa Muhammad Shehade صلاح شحادة (or Shehadeh, Shahadeh; 24 February 1953 – 22 July 2002) was a member of the Palestinian Islamist movement
Activities
Born in
During the
Shehade led the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades military wing of Hamas during a period which saw a campaign of suicide attacks against Israeli civilian targets which caused the deaths of hundreds of Israeli civilians. As the leader of the Hamas military wing, he oversaw Hamas field commanders in Gaza and the West Bank and defined the policy of terror attacks by Hamas.[2]
Assassination
On 22 July 2002, the
27 reserve pilots, including
Reaction
The attack received widespread condemnation from other Middle Eastern nations, Western Europe, and the United States.
Legal responses
Human rights organizations around the world, including in Israel, severely criticized the attack, proclaiming that the intentional dropping of a one-ton bomb in the middle of the night on a dense civilian neighborhood is tantamount to a war crime. The Gush Shalom movement also threatened to turn the pilot over to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.[10] Israeli Air Force Chief Dan Halutz, who was abroad during the bombing itself but was still accountable as IAF commander, gave an interview to Haaretz, published on 21 August 2002. To his pilots he said:
- [To pilots] Guys, ... you can sleep well at night. I also sleep well by the way. You aren't the ones who choose the targets, and you were not the ones who chose the target in this particular case. You are not responsible for the contents of the target. Your execution was perfect. Superb. And I repeat again: There is no problem here that concerns you. You did exactly what you were instructed to do. You did not deviate from that by so much as a millimeter to the right or to the left. And anyone who has a problem with that is invited to see me.
When asked whether the operation was morally wrong because of the toll on some civilians, Halutz answered that the planning included moral consideration and that a mistake or an accident did not make it such. When the reporter asked about the feelings of a pilot when he drops a bomb, Halutz answered:
- No. That is not a legitimate question and it is not asked. But if you nevertheless want to know what I feel when I release a bomb, I will tell you: I feel a light bump to the plane as a result of the bomb's release. A second later it's gone, and that's all. That is what I feel.
In the same interview Halutz denounced the left-wing groups who attacked the pilots and called to have them tried for "treason":
- Is this the public for which the Israel Defense Forces is fighting day in and day out? All those bleeding hearts who have the gall to use Mafioso methods of blackmail against fighters – I don't recall that they ever threatened to turn over one of the arch-terrorists, the terrorists who have killed many Israeli civilians, to The Hague. What I have to say about those people is that this is a democracy, where everyone can always express his opinion. But not to be a traitor.
[Interviewer] Are you suggesting that members of the Gush Shalom ("Peace Bloc") group who made those comments should be placed on trial for treason?
- [Halutz] We have to find the right clause in the law and place them on trial in Israel. Yes. You wanted to talk to me about morality, and I say that a state that does not protect itself is acting immorally. A state that does not back up its fighters will not survive. Happily, the State of Israel does back up its fighters. This vocal but negligible minority brings to mind dark times in the history of the Jewish people, when a minority among us went and informed on another part of the nation. That must not happen again. Who would have believed that pilots of the air force would find their cars spray-painted with savage graffiti because of a mission they carried out?[10]
Following the assassination, the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet established a joint inquiry into the incident and submitted their findings to Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer on 2 August 2002. The inquiry concluded that the procedures and operational assessments followed in the operation were "correct and professional", and that the operation resulted in the elimination of a "major terrorist leader". However, the inquiry found shortcomings in the intelligence available and the analysis of intelligence concerning the presence of civilians near Shehade. The inquiry found that if the intelligence had indicated with certainty the presence of civilians in Shehade's vicinity, the timing or method of the action would have been changed, "as was done a number of times in the past."[11]
In December 2005, a
In 2007, the Israeli State Prosecutor's Office announced that an independent commission of inquiry into the death of the 14 innocent Palestinian civilians would be held following a petition by Yesh Gvul.[5] Headed by Zvi Inbar, this commission began in February 2008. Its findings were officially released to the public in February 2011,[13] and found "intelligence gathering failure" and "no premeditated intention to kill civilians," reporting that commanders did not know there were innocent people in the building at the time, and that they would have called it off had they known.[14]
In January 2009, the
See also
- Emad Akel
- Yahya Ayyash
- List of Israeli civilian casualties in the Second Intifada(partial list)
References
- ^ a b "Salah Shehade" profile, Jewish Virtual Library; accessed 21 November 2014.
- ^ a b "Shehade was high on Israel most-wanted list", CNN, 23 July 2002
- ^ a b Goldenberg, Suzanne (23 July 2002). "12 dead in attack on Hamas". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
- ^ Journal of Palestine Studies, 116, Volume XXIX, no 4, Summer 2000 by Michele L. Kjorlien of the New York Times (15-17 May 2000), Washington Post (15 May 2000), Washington Jewish Week (18 May 2000).
- ^ a b c Yuval Yoaz, "State commission to examine civilian deaths in 2002 Shehade assassination", Haaretz, 19 September 2007
- ^ a b c d Appeal to the Spanish Supreme Court Archived 3 September 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Javier Fernández Estrada, 21 September 2009.
- ^ "Israeli pilots' stand of conscience" Archived 20 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine, smh.com.au; 25 September 2003; accessed 21 November 2014.
- ^ Sharon comments re Shehade assassination and aftermath Archived 11 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine, slate.com; accessed 21 November 2014.
- ^ "Outside View: The Middle East, reversed".
- ^ a b The high and the mighty Ha'aretz, 21 August 2002.
- ^ Findings of the inquiry into the death of Salah Shehada Archived 17 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine Israeli Foreign Ministry (2 August 2002)
- ^ "USA blames former Israeli security chief for bomb deaths in Gaza City" Archived 9 February 2006 at the Wayback Machine, Pravda, 9 December 2005
- ^ "תקציר דו"ח הועדה המיוחדת לבחינת פעולת סיכול ממוקד- צלאח שחאדה". www.pmo.gov.il. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
- ^ The Jerusalem Post, Spanish court to decide on Gaza trial; accessed 28 December 2017.
- ^ Israeli officials forming united front against Spanish lawsuit YNet
- ^ a b c Izenberg, Dan. "Universal jurisdiction victory in Spain but battle goes on". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
- ^ Israel minister feared UK arrest, bbc.co.uk; accessed 21 November 2014.