Assassinating Hamas Leaders Scores Points But Is Unlikely To Produce Victory

The killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh is about more than Israel’s targeting of the group’s officials whenever and wherever an opportunity arises. Mr. Haniyeh was known as a ‘pragmatist’ and a ‘moderate’ within Hamas. His killing was as much about achieving Israel’s goal of destroying Hamas militarily and politically as it was about quashing any chance that a post-war Hamas would potentially be more accepting of a two-state resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.