Jonathan Savage on Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh assassination

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Jonathan Savage, ar correspondent in Londonfrom Fox joined us now and more on
what took place as the Hamas leaderhas been assassinated. This is, you
know, I mean, just incrediblein Iran itself, right there in their
own soil. You take that,and Jonathan, welcome in. I was
just talking to John Dekker, correspondentin DC at the White House there about

(00:21):
the local reaction here in the States. But tell us what's going on in
Europe with reaction on this whole thingthat took place there in London. The
yeah, reaction all over Europe andthe Middle East to what was the stunning
development that certainly shot to mass andas I expect you're hearing from John Decker,

(00:42):
took Israel's allies by some surprise aswell. Is really leadership. I
promised and in fact publicly instructed Mossad, their intelligence agency, to act against
the Hammas leaders wherever they are.And there was no leader more significant than
Ismael Haney. And the fact thathe was killed in Iran under the nose

(01:03):
of Israel's greatest enemy makes this eventall the more staggering and all the more
dangerous. And if you look atwhat Iran has been saying as a result
of this, they've been promising revenge. They say it will be met with
a harsh and painful response and harmass is Armed Wing saying the killing of
Asmal Honeya will have major repercussions.I think beyond the Middle East, in

(01:29):
Europe there is no doubt some trepidation. You've had countries such as France and
the United Kingdom which have been tryingto support the ceasefire negotiations. Well,
the major negotiated from Hamas has justbeen killed. So people are now expecting
that ceasefire negotiations will take a massive, a massive downslide. And I think

(01:51):
while there will be talks taking placetrying to encourage all sides to dial down
the temperature, will also be greatanxiety about it. And apparently this took
place as they were swearing in onTuesday yesterday, the Iranian president in that
ceremony there. Now, Iran didn'tprovide any details quickly on how this helm

(02:13):
Oss leader was killed. In theinvestigations underway obviously over there, but I'm
also hearing it was rocketfire. Anydetails on how the assassination took place.
Yeah, he was as you say, in Iran for the inauguration of President
Masud Pezeshki, and I think hefelt pretty safe in Iran. He'd been
there six ten times in the lastfew years, and just a few hours

(02:34):
before dying he met Iran Supreme Leader. But we're told he was staying in
a home for veterans and an airstrike targeted that building at two am,
and early suggestions are a rocket hitthe house and he and its bodyguard died.
Now, Israel doesn't typically comment whenit carries out operations abroad, but

(02:54):
perhaps it followed a similar operation inApril when it targeted Iranian air defenses.
Back then they used Israel Air Forcejet to fire rockets from outside Iranian air
space. That seems like a fairlylikely tactic. If, as is widely
suspected, Israel was behind this,well, there's no doubt in my mind

(03:15):
and I think everybody's mind that thisobviously was retaliation. I mean for what
took place October seventh, and Nnanyahuhas been, as you mentioned at the
beginning, very clear that you knowthere is going to be some payback coming
your way, and most recently andHesbela, you know, being attacked as
well. The one of their leadersthere in Lebanon, and then this on
the heels of that. So who'sup next as far as leadership, I

(03:38):
mean, they went right to thehead of the snake in Iran. But
all the tentacles, I mean,they're they're certainly fair game as far as
Nannaho's concerned. So any other indicationas to where Israel may strike again and
who may be the target. WhatHamas and this allies are saying is that
Hamas is not a person. Hamasis an idea. Idea will live on

(04:01):
the main. I think the maintarget for Israel in terms of a mass
now would be Yaya Sinwar. Heis Hamas's leader, is the chief in
Gaza. Essentially, he's in chargeof the war there. Now. He's
difficult to get out. Of course, he's probably an underground bunker and has
probably been in an underground bunker sincethe seventh of October last year. That

(04:25):
he obviously would be another highly significantfigure. Israel have managed to take out
high profile targets. You were justtalking about that airstrike in Lebanon that took
out a senior, his black commander. A few weeks ago, they targeted
Hamss's number two, Mohammed daf inGaza. He's the man behind Yaasin war

(04:46):
in the territory. It's expected thathe was killed in that. So I
think that we're going to keep seeingIsrael targeting senior Hamas and other Islamist militant
figures wherever they can find them.Any word from the allies of Iran,
China, Russia and North Korea,anybody there our adversary's weighing in on this
recent movement. There's been widespread condemnationof the killing of Ismaile Honey from Russia,

(05:15):
China, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan. These countries all very clear that
it is what, in their words, the serious violation. Also concerned from
Egypt and Cut our two key negotiatorsor two key countries helping negotiations for a
ceasefire. They're saying that this strikes, this strike suggest that Israel doesn't have

(05:40):
the political will, isn't honest aboutwanting a ceasefire. Well, you know
what, you know what else iscoming under condemnation October seventh event too.
So you know Ntan Yah who's gotevery right to defend himself and he swore
what's going to be getting after thefolks that brought that, and he's certainly
carrying that out. Jonathan Savage,thank you so much, buddy. I
appreciate it.