A number of Israeli officials have said Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal, who is exiled in Syria, was in their sights over the captured of the soldier in an attack near the Gaza border on Sunday.
JERUSALEM: Israel threatened on Wednesday to kill exiled Syrian-based leaders of the ruling Palestinian Hamas movement, blaming them for the kidnapping of a soldier by militants in the Gaza Strip.
"Hamas's and Islamic Jihad's leaders and general headquarters are in Damascus in locations the Syrians know perfectly well," Public Security Minister Avi Dichter told public radio.
"We have transmitted clarifications and warnings through diplomatic channels to the Syrians on this matter, but they have chosen to disregard them. This therefore gives Israel full permission to attack these assassins," he said.
"For years, Israel has held Syria responsible for some of the terrorist actions perpetrated on Israeli territory," added Dichter, a former chief of Israel's domestic security agency Shin Beth.
A number of Israeli officials have said Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal, who is exiled in Syria, was in their sights over the captured of the soldier in an attack near the Gaza border on Sunday. Israel compared the 50-year-old Meshaal to Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, and called for international pressure on Syria to expel him.
Meshaal is one of Israel's most wanted men and famously survived a bungled assassination attempt by Mossad agents, who tried to poison him in 1997 in Jordan. A close aide to Meshaal told reporters in Amman that the Hamas supremo spurned the volley of Israeli threats.
"Abu al-Walid (Meshaal) believes in God and in fate. The Israeli threats do not scare him," the aide said in a phone interview from Damascus. "He is used to living dangerously."
That was echoed by a member of the Hamas politburo in Damascus. "Threats against leaders of the resistance are not new," Musa Abu Marbak said. "This is a constant Israeli policy. Consequently, we take them seriously and must deal with them. He added, however, that "these threats do not frighten anyone."
Israel blames Meshaal for the capture of 19-year-old soldier Gilad Shalit in an attack Sunday claimed by Palestinian militants, including the armed wing of Hamas.
"Like bin Laden, the leader of Al-Qaeda, Meshaal is a terrorist of the worst kind, and the international community must put pressure on (Syrian President) Bashar al-Assad for him to be expelled from Syria," Justice Minister Haim Ramon said.
"It is unacceptable that this terrorist should be able to hold press conferences with the consent of Syrian authorities," Ramon said. He also told army radio that Meshaal was a target for assassination. "He is definitely in our sights... he is a target," he said. "As someone who is overseeing, actually commanding the terror acts, (he) is definitely a target."
His warning was echoed by Tzahi Hanegbi, head of Israel's foreign affairs and defence committee.
"Meshaal... got his life back once, but he needs to know that he will join Yassin, Rantissi and all the other murderers if one hair falls off the head of the soldier," Hanegbi said.
Hamas's spiritual leader and co-founder Ahmed Yassin and his successor Abdel Aziz Rantissi were both killed in Israeli air strikes within a month of each other in 2004.
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