Ismail Haniyeh's assassination shows Israel has ‘no intention of peace’: UK journalist

By Alireza Akbari

The assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the political bureau chief of Hamas and lead negotiator, shows the Israeli regime has “no intention of peace,” says a British journalist and writer.

In an interview with the Press TV website, Yvonne Ridley said those who are genuinely interested in peace do not kill the lead negotiator from the other side, referring to the assassination of Haniyeh.

“You don’t kill the negotiator of peace if you want peace and it’s quite clear that it (assassination of Haniyeh) serves Benjamin Netanyahu’s purpose to keep the war going,” she stated.

“He (Netanyahu) doesn’t care about how many Israeli soldiers are killed nor does he care about rescuing captives. He cares about his long-term survival.”

Ceasefire talks, which resumed in the Qatari capital Doha this week, have been derailed amid the relentless genocidal war crimes in the Gaza Strip and the cowardly assassination of the Hamas leader.

Hamas insists that any ceasefire deal must include an end to the Gaza genocidal war and the complete withdrawal of Israeli regime forces from the besieged territory and the release of Palestinian prisoners.

Commenting on the assassination of Hamas chief in Tehran, and Iran's vow to avenge his blood, Ridley said Israel has shown it has no respect for the sovereignty of Iran or other countries.

“The fighting (against the regime) is being done by the young men on the ground and by the way I was given some statistics recently that suggested that 85 percent of Hamas fighters are all orphans whose parents have been killed by Israel, so this is a highly motivated band of fighters,” she asserted.

“So, I don’t think that Israel can halt the resistance.”

The attack on the al-Tabi’in School in Gaza City, which killed more than 100 Palestinians, was “yet another low in this dreadful war on Gaza,” said Ridley.

The victims included women, children, and the elderly, who were torn apart by bombs reportedly weighing 2,000 pounds each, according to media reports citing Gaza government authorities.

“Images that we saw from these deadly bombs were truly shocking. Doctors (in Gaza) said they didn't receive one single whole body and most of the dead arrived in plastic bags like lumps of meat,” she said.

“It was absolutely grotesque. Israel justified the killing of more than 100 Palestinians sheltering at the school in Gaza by saying that the attack was targeted at 20 Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighters. How do they (Zionists) know? That's what I would like to know.”

Pertinently, human rights groups have proved that all the victims at the Gaza City schools were ordinary civilians, and none of them was affiliated with either Hamas or Islamic Jihad resistance groups.

Regarding the release of CCTV footage depicting Israeli soldiers sexually assaulting a Palestinian detainee in Sde Teiman prison, she said the act was justified by some Israelis as self-defense, terming it as “incredulous explanation.”

“If you were raping someone, you are the one in control and are not in any danger,” she noted.

“Committing rape as a form of self-defense just insults everyone's intelligence. And it wasn't only soldiers who queued up to rape, gang rape, the young man. A military attack dog was also used in the assault, and there have been previous claims that the Israeli Army uses its attack dogs for rape.”

The British journalist said rape is being used not only as a weapon of war but as a weapon of torture.

“That is why I called the prison a concentration camp, you know, the stories that have come out and the rioting that broke out as people were trying to defend rapists. It just shows the moral depravity that some Israelis have sunk to. Again, it just defies credulity. I have got no other words for it.”

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk