Left-wing politicians and groups criticized the timing of the elimination of one of Israel\'s top enemies. Although Arutz-7\'s Haggai Segal noted that he does not remember an IDF operation whose timing was praised on the left, left-wing Gush Shalom stated that last night\'s attack was particularly ill-advised, in that it came only hours after Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin made what Gush Shalom called \"an unprecedented public call for a cease-fire with Israel.\" Actually, all Yassin said was that if Israel withdraws its forces from all PA areas and stops all its [anti-terrorist] offensives, \"I will consider ordering a stop to terrorist attacks.\"
Meretz leader MK Yossi Sarid said, \"Shehada deserved to die, but [not right now] when a chance for quiet seemed to be developing...\" Deputy Defense Minister Dalia Rabin-Pelossof (Labor) even resigned her position in protest (although some analysts saw her resignation in the context of other recent Labor party resignations from the government and the party.) Moledet leader MK Benny Elon said that the left was \"fooling itself.\"
Ha\'aretz reported in the name of \"a security source\" that the timing of the attack was determined by operational and intelligence constraints, and that attempts to hit Shehada had been put off several times, including in recent days, for fear of harming civilians.
A former leading GSS figure, Ehud Yatom, told Arutz-7 today that he does not accept the claims against the timing. \"I\'ve actually heard lately,\" Yatom said, \"that Hamas was threatening to intensify its attacks if we deport terrorist relatives or destroy houses, so I don\'t know what they base their feeling that Hamas was leaning towards quiet... From a military point of view, this was the only timing available. I would assume that it was not known that his family was with him, because for the past year he has acted like a fugitive in every sense, including leaving his family for long periods. In any event, this is what happens in war sometimes...\" [Ed. note: Col. [res.] Moshe Hager told Arutz-7 earlier this week that he knows of several recent incidents in which the army refrained from hitting its targets because of the presence of innocent people nearby.]
Ehud Yatom acknowledged that Hamas has threatened revenge, \"and they usually try to carry out on their threats, which is why the IDF\'s continued presence in the areas is important - because the GSS can bring us intelligence information only if it has IDF coverage... Shehada\'s death is very important for us, because it will take a long time before Hamas finds another leader as skilled and charismatic as he was.\" Rabbi Rafi Peretz, an IDF pilot in the reserves and the head of the pre-military academy in Atzmona - five of whose students were murdered in March of this year by terrorists sent by Shehada - commented today:
\"Nothing can bring back our dear students, but I am happy that we are \'settling accounts\' with murderers of this nature. The fact that the State of Israel says that it will reach every murderous terrorist, and then actually does so, is a very important ethical statement to our nation.\"
Asked about the fact that children were killed in the raid, Rabbi Peretz said,
\"First of all, I\'d like to make clear what type of evil people we are dealing with. Two weeks ago, we lost one of our former students, Capt. Haggai Lev, while his unit was engaged in searching for arms-smuggling tunnels - and listen to the circumstances under which he was killed. He was told that the enemy was using small children as scouts. When he went to check to see if this was in fact the case, he was shot and killed by a Palestinian sniper. This shows our ethical level compared to theirs. We great regret the loss of whoever was innocent among them, but when they take civilians as their cover, then though it is difficult, they must know that this has a price.\"
Meretz leader MK Yossi Sarid said, \"Shehada deserved to die, but [not right now] when a chance for quiet seemed to be developing...\" Deputy Defense Minister Dalia Rabin-Pelossof (Labor) even resigned her position in protest (although some analysts saw her resignation in the context of other recent Labor party resignations from the government and the party.) Moledet leader MK Benny Elon said that the left was \"fooling itself.\"
Ha\'aretz reported in the name of \"a security source\" that the timing of the attack was determined by operational and intelligence constraints, and that attempts to hit Shehada had been put off several times, including in recent days, for fear of harming civilians.
A former leading GSS figure, Ehud Yatom, told Arutz-7 today that he does not accept the claims against the timing. \"I\'ve actually heard lately,\" Yatom said, \"that Hamas was threatening to intensify its attacks if we deport terrorist relatives or destroy houses, so I don\'t know what they base their feeling that Hamas was leaning towards quiet... From a military point of view, this was the only timing available. I would assume that it was not known that his family was with him, because for the past year he has acted like a fugitive in every sense, including leaving his family for long periods. In any event, this is what happens in war sometimes...\" [Ed. note: Col. [res.] Moshe Hager told Arutz-7 earlier this week that he knows of several recent incidents in which the army refrained from hitting its targets because of the presence of innocent people nearby.]
Ehud Yatom acknowledged that Hamas has threatened revenge, \"and they usually try to carry out on their threats, which is why the IDF\'s continued presence in the areas is important - because the GSS can bring us intelligence information only if it has IDF coverage... Shehada\'s death is very important for us, because it will take a long time before Hamas finds another leader as skilled and charismatic as he was.\" Rabbi Rafi Peretz, an IDF pilot in the reserves and the head of the pre-military academy in Atzmona - five of whose students were murdered in March of this year by terrorists sent by Shehada - commented today:
\"Nothing can bring back our dear students, but I am happy that we are \'settling accounts\' with murderers of this nature. The fact that the State of Israel says that it will reach every murderous terrorist, and then actually does so, is a very important ethical statement to our nation.\"
Asked about the fact that children were killed in the raid, Rabbi Peretz said,
\"First of all, I\'d like to make clear what type of evil people we are dealing with. Two weeks ago, we lost one of our former students, Capt. Haggai Lev, while his unit was engaged in searching for arms-smuggling tunnels - and listen to the circumstances under which he was killed. He was told that the enemy was using small children as scouts. When he went to check to see if this was in fact the case, he was shot and killed by a Palestinian sniper. This shows our ethical level compared to theirs. We great regret the loss of whoever was innocent among them, but when they take civilians as their cover, then though it is difficult, they must know that this has a price.\"