Ben-Eliezer: Mabhouh hit not a failure

Minister adds “I don’t know who did it but what’s important is the end result.”

By JPOST.COM STAFF
ben eliezer at post 248.88 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
ben eliezer at post 248.88
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
“The assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was not a failure,” Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said on Sunday in an interview with Army Radio. According to Ben-Eliezer, who is also a member of the inner security cabinet, “I don’t know who did it but what’s important is the end result.”
The minister also related to the deterrence the operation had achieved. “The question is how significant was the man’s role in Hamas, and assuming his role was a major one – the notion that it is possible to reach anyone, any place and at any time – is, for me, deterrence. [Hizbullah leader Hassan] Nasrallash also says he travels to Damascus wearing wigs so as not to expose himself.”
According to Ben-Eliezer, “If you ask me, and contrary to all the voices we have been hearing as of late who criticize the operation – what’s there to criticize? All I’m interested in now from this tsunami is one simple thing. If he’s dead or alive. And the answer to that is clear.”
Asked about the identity of the assassins, the minister replied, “Iwon’t get into the arguments whether they were intelligence operativesor not. Why go into it? The important thing is what was engraved intheir memory.”
In related news, the British Embassy in Israel announced over theweekend that a special police investigator had been flown in to meetwith the dual British-Israeli nationals whose British passports wereused in al-Mabhouh’s assassination.
Embassy spokesman Rafi Shamir said the officer will meet with theidentity theft victims soon. He had no further details Saturday.