LOS ANGELES.–Hamas’s 68-year-old Doha, Qatar-based leader in exile Khaled Meshaal was tapped to replace 62-year-old Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, assassinated today by an Israeli rocket strike at his home in Tehran. Meshaal and Haniyeh have much in common living a lavish, jet-setting lifestyle, after looting Gaza for the last 17 years. Haniyeh learned well from Meshaal about how crime pays, plundering the Gaza Strip of donor cash, making him a billionaire, at least four times over just like Meshaal and their 71-year-old friend Abu Marzouk, also living in the lap of luxury in Doha. Appointing Meshaal to replace Haniyeh adds insult-to-injury to Palestinians but is par for the course for the Hamas terrorist group. Hamas leaders, including Gaza’s 62-year-old clandestine leader Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the Oct. 7 massacre that killed 1,200 Israelis, taking another 250 hostage.
Meshaal lived for years in exile in Damascus[2004 to 2012] at the pleasure of 58-year-old Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, when he was asked to leave because of support of Sunni Arab groups trying to topple al-Assad’s government. Meshaal showed his appreciation to al-Assad by working with ISIS and al-Qaeda to topple al-Assad’s Damascus government. How ironic that Meshaal was on the same page as former President Barack Obama who spent billions on Syrian rebel groups trying for years to topple al-Assad’s government. Meshaal, who runs the Palestine diaspora office in exile, moved to Doha, where he lived like a king with his Hamas friends Ismail Haniyec and Abu Marsouk. Returning Meshaal to lead Hamas shows the tightly knit group running the Hamas terror group. Meshaal is an old corrupt part of Hamas, in many ways far worse than Haniyeh.
Meshaal earned his terrorist chops when he was poisoned in 1997 by Israel’s Mossad intel agency, then forced to supply a antidote when King Hossein of Jordan threatened to break off diplomatic relations with Israel. Pro-Hamas news organization conveniently cover-up that Meshaal, like Haniyeh, was worth about $4 billion, all looted from billions of dollars in oil-rich Gulf State donor cash, periodically supplying cash to Gaza after Hamas destroys the Gaza Strip with its many uprisings and wars with Israel. Since the 2020 Abraham Accords, oil-rich Gulf States are reluctant to resupply Hamas with cash, knowing it goes for rockets and military tunnels, not improving infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. Bringing back Meshaal is a slap in the face to all Palestinians living in Gaza. All of Hamas’s promises of conquering Israel have crashed-and-burned with the latest war in Gaza.
Iran continues to meddle in the region using Gaza’s Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Yemen Houthis as a surrogate force to attack Israel. Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman knows all about Houthi rebels since they’ve been at war with the Kingdom since 2015, bombing Saudi oil refineries and destroying the Riyadh International Airport. Iran’s 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei funds proxy group like Hezbollah with the intent of destroying the Jewish state. Like Haniyeh, Meshaal is welcomed with open arms in Tehran, the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. Meshaal lived through Hamas founder Yassin’s March 22, 2004 assassination and that of his successor Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi April 17. 2004. So when it comes to working to destroy Israel Meshaal knows, like Haniyeh, he walks on thin ice, knowing what’s happened before.
Haniyeh was given a rude awakening when he met with the Ayatollah in April 2023, one month after the Oct. 7 massacre. Haniyeh asked for Ayatollah’s direct military help in dealing with Israel knowing that Gaza was under siege with the full might of Israeli Defense Forces [IDF]. Ayatollah told Haniyeh he was on his own, refusing to get militarily involved in Hamas’s new war with Israel. Iran has enough of its own domestic problems after the nationwide uprising following the Basij militia Sept 16, 2022 beating death for Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini. Protests around Iran called for the end of mullah rule, prompting a nationwide crackdown on dissent. Before Haniyeh’s death, he pretended to participate in ceasefire talks in Cairo, aimed at keeping Hamas in power. Netanyahu knows that he must remove Hamas rule in Gaza if there’s any chance for peace.
Meshaal knows that he’s a marked man taking over Hamas leadership without returning all Israeli hostages and agreeing to leave Gaza. Hamas thinks it has consensus rule in Gaza, even after creating that latest war that Hamas says has killed nearly 40,000 Gaza citizens. Meshaal has found himself at odds with the Ramallah-based West Bank Palestine Authority government. Since toppling the Palestine Authority rule in Gaza in 2007, the two sides are locked in a unending power struggle. Hamas only exists but it pretends it hold the same mission as its founder Ahmed Yassin to destroy the Jewish state. Making Meshaal its leader adds insult-to-injury to Gaza residents knowing that he’s looted the Gaza treasury for years, making his net worth $4 billion. U.S. officials know that Meshaal is the last person to rule Gaza knowing he’ll continue Yassin’s mission to destroy Israel.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
