WELL, SO MUCH FOR THAT... :

Israel kills Hamas founder in Gaza in air strike (Amos Harel, 7/23/02, Ha'aretz)

In what military sources called one of the most significant strikes since the start of the intifada 20 months ago, an Israeli warplane blew up a house in Gaza in the early hours of Tuesday morning, killing Salah Shehada, the head of the Hamas military wing in the Strip and the No. 1 man on the Israel Defense Force's wanted list in the last two years. [...]

Shehada, 40, was the commander of Izz a-Din el-Kassam, the military wing of Hamas, and served as a close personal aide to the movement's spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. In addition to his extensive involvement in terror activity, he had gradually developed his reputation as a leader with religious authority and was seen as a possible future heir to Yassin. [...]

According to Shin Bet officials, Shehada was one of the movement's most extreme members and rejected any talk of limiting suicide attacks. He was in contact with Hamas officials abroad. According to military sources, he challenged Yassin's leadership on several occasions, and was considered more radical than the movement's spiritual leader.

Even assuming this was totally justified, which I do, it seems like the worst possible moment to whack one of Yassin's top aides, unless, of course, Yassin green-lighted it.
Posted by Orrin Judd at July 22, 2002 8:06 PM