From Beirut to Jerusalem

Israel’s national security minister (and convicted extremist) Itamar Ben-Gvir and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich are both openly advocating for the mass resettlement of Palestinians.
Israel’s national security minister (and convicted extremist) Itamar Ben-Gvir and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich are both openly advocating for the mass resettlement of Palestinians. Photo: Menahem Kahana/Getty
Julia Ioffe
January 4, 2024

Yesterday evening, an explosion in a Hezbollah enclave of Beirut, apparently caused by a drone, killed Saleh al-Arouri, a senior leader of Hamas and the founder of the group’s militant wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades. Al-Arouri was also one of the architects of the October 7 massacre, and though Israel hasn’t officially claimed responsibility for the assassination, which also took out a handful of other senior Hamas figures, it’s hard to imagine who else would have been behind it. A Biden administration official told The Washington Post that it was Israel’s doing and a senior administration official told reporters on Wednesday afternoon that al-Arouri “had American blood on his hands” and “was held accountable.” Some of Israel’s own politicians have been crowing about the hit. Danny Danon, a Likud Knesset member and former Israeli ambassador to the U.N., tweeted his congratulations to “the I.D.F., Shin Bet and the Mossad… for killing senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut,” before being shut down by I.D.F. officials, who publicly reminded him that the Israeli government wasn’t taking responsibility.