The Foreign Ministry suggested its representatives abroad use
the following points to explain the assassination of Hamas
leader Ahmed Yassin.
-- Yassin was at important link in international terror, and
Hamas had connections with other terror groups around the
world .
-- Characterizing Yassin as a "spiritual leader" is similar
to trying to characterize Osama bin Laden that way. Yassin
took advantage of his status as a spiritual leader to inspire
hundreds of murderous attacks, from the Dolphinarium attack
in Tel Aviv in 2001 to the Passover eve attack in Netanya in
2002. It is known that he personally was responsible for the
June 2002 attack on the Number 19 bus in Jerusalem at the
Patt Junction, in which 19 people were murdered and 74
wounded.
-- Yassin founded and led a radical Islamic terror
organization that carried out a long list of horrible attacks
which killed and wounded hundreds of Israelis and foreign
citizens.
-- Yassin was a chilling example of the cynical use of
religion to send women and children to blow themselves up and
kill hundreds.
-- The killing of Yassin is not an act of vengeance, but
rather part of a continuous campaign against terrorists who
have targeted Israelis, and whose final goal is the
destruction of Israel.
-- Those who deal in terrorism must know that Israel cannot
sit quietly and wait for the next suicide bomber to appear on
the streets of Tel Aviv or Jerusalem. Israel's government,
like all governments around the world, has a basic
responsibility to protect its citizens from terrorists.
-- In parallel to the fight against the terror infrastructure
and terrorist leaders, Israel will continue to try to reach a
diplomatic arrangement with the Palestinians based on the
road map. This arrangement will only be reached in the future
if the Palestinians will both fight terror and abandon terror
as a way of solving diplomatic disagreements.
-- Israel offered the Palestinians hope based on reasonable
compromise. It extended its hand in peace, but received in
exchange a full portion of terror. Even now, Israel is being
threatened by an increase in terror, and it will continue to
defend itself against these threats.
