Jeff Jacoby
The Boston Globe, Sept. 8, 2024
“… no Palestinian terrorist has ever been brought to justice in the United States for atrocities committed against Americans abroad.”
Hersh Goldberg-Polin — the 23-year-old American-Israeli who was one of six hostages found shot to death in a Gaza tunnel last weekend — was laid to rest in Jerusalem on Monday. The day after his funeral, the Justice Department announced criminal charges against six high-ranking Hamas officials for “planning, supporting, and perpetrating” the Oct. 7 terrorist rampage in which more than 40 US citizens were killed and eight, including Hersh, were taken captive.
That criminal complaint, originally filed under seal in the US district court in Manhattan, accurately summarizes the savagery of the Hamas massacre 11 months ago. It outlines Hamas’s close ties to Iran. It notes that Hamas does not attack only Israelis but has been engaged in what Attorney General Merrick Garland called “a decades-long campaign to murder American citizens and endanger the national security of the United States.” It asks that warrants be issued for the defendants’ arrest.
And it will accomplish nothing.
For one thing, three of the six Hamas chieftains named in the Justice Department complaint — Ismail Haniyeh, Mohammed Deif, and Marwan Issa — are dead. Haniyeh was eliminated, presumably by Israeli special forces, during a visit to Tehran on July 31. Deif and Issa were killed earlier in targeted strikes in Gaza. Other than striking a pose, what is the point of filing criminal complaints against three deceased terrorists?
As for the other three, it is a virtual certainty that none will ever see the inside of a US courtroom. Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas, is hiding in his Gaza tunnels, using handcuffed hostages as human shields. Khaled Meshaal lives in Qatar, protected by a government that claims to be a US ally yet for years has supported Hamas and shielded its senior cadres. Ali Baraka is based in Lebanon, which is effectively ruled by Hezbollah. They have about as much to fear from a Justice Department filing as Osama Bin Laden did when criminal charges were issued against him.
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