The Potential Ramifications of Israel's Alleged Campaign to Kill Hamas Leaders

If Israel conducts an assassination campaign against Hamas leaders abroad, it would likely provoke more antisemitism and rebukes from Western governments, risk regional blowback, slow down postwar normalization efforts, generate retaliation from Hamas, and keep the threat of regional escalation, including potentially greater involvement from Iran, on the table next year. Over the past month, a steady stream of media reports have detailed alleged plans among Israeli leaders to assassinate Hamas leaders in foreign countries once the intensity of the current conflict in the Gaza Strip declines. On Dec. 1, The Wall Street Journal first reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had directed the country's intelligence services to track down top Hamas officials living in Lebanon, Turkey and Qatar. According to the report, debate among Israeli security chiefs has focused more on when and how to carry out assassinations, rather than if to do so in the first place....