イスラエル／パレスチナ和平

After sentencing al-Qaida shoe-bomber Richard Reid last January, US District Court Judge William Young turned to Reid and said, "You are not an enemy combatant. You are a terrorist. We do not negotiate with terrorists. We do not sign documents with terrorists. We hunt them down one by one and bring them to justice."

Abdel Aziz Rantisi is a terrorist. As one of the senior leaders of Hamas, he is a senior terrorist. He has for years been involved in all aspects of Hamas's terrorist infrastructure. Rantisi incites Muslims to become suicide bombers. He raises funds for weapons. He mobilizes operatives to strike. And after each successful bombing he acts as a terrorist spokesman and apologist.

According to a statement released yesterday by the Defense Ministry, Rantisi has personally overseen Hamas terror operations for the past several months stepping in after Salah Shehada was killed and Muhammad Deif was taken out of action by IDF strikes. We have no reason to doubt the veracity of this statement.

We also do not doubt the Defense Ministry's statement that Rantisi shares the criminal responsibility for the murder of 227 Israelis and the wounding of 1,393 others since the beginning of the Palestinian terrorist war three years ago.

As one of the heads of Hamas, Rantisi, like Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, is culpable for the actions of their organization regardless of whether they personally issued every specific kill order. Rantisi and Yassin are the brains of Hamas. At their direction, the organization murders. With their guidance, the organization grows and increases its public support. They, together with other terrorists like Yasser Arafat, are responsible for the indoctrination of large swathes of Palestinian society to believe that the murder of Jews is moral and just.

Following the air force's unsuccessful attempt to kill Rantisi yesterday, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer was quick to say that US President George W. Bush is "deeply troubled" by the IDF's action. The president apparently believes that, by taking out Rantisi, the government is somehow harming the chances for peace.

To this we can only comment that we were unaware the US believes that Hamas is an organization worthy of protecting. We would also point out that Rantisi is an enemy of the US. Ahead of the US operation to destroy Saddam Hussein's regime, Rantisi called on the Iraqis to carry out suicide bombings against US forces in Iraq.

In an article published on Hamas's Web site in late December, translated by MEMRI, Rantisi wrote: "In order to defend the homeland from the terrorist Crusader [i.e. US] attack, there is a need for people who yearn for Paradise, and the shortest way to Paradise is death for [the sake of] Allah.