Hanegbi: Haniyeh could be a target

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A senior Israeli official said Monday that Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh could be a target if he engages in attacks against Israel. Israel estimates that Haniyeh, as a political leader of Hamas, is not involved at this point in planning attacks against Israel, said Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Tzahi Hanegbi. But if Haniyeh begins directing the Hamas' military wing's declared plans to attack Israel, he could be a target, Hanegbi told Army Radio. Haniyeh could meet the same fate as Hamas leaders Sheik Ahmed Yassin, and his successor, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, who were killed in Israeli missile strikes in 2004, Hanegbi said. "Rantisi and Yassin are waiting for you Haniyeh - if you take the same position of killing Jews and of striking indiscriminately with suicide attacks that will try once again to freeze Israeli society," Hanegbi said.