Hamas chief Ismail Haniyya was assassinated on Wednesday in Iran’s capital Tehran. Hamas has blamed Israel for Haniyya’s murder and has vowed to take revenge. After Haniyya’s death, senior Hamas leader Khaled Mashal, who is considered the second most powerful leader, may take over the responsibility of the organization.
News agency Reuters, in one of its reports, has quoted Hamas sources as saying that Hamas can appoint Mashaal as its chief.
Who is Khaled Mashal?
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Khaled Mashaal was born on 28 May 1956 near Ramallah in the West Bank. At the age of 15, he joined the Muslim Brotherhood, an Egypt-based Sunni Islamic organization. Hamas was formed in 1987 with the help of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Time magazine has given Khaled Mashaal the title of “The Man Who Haunts Israel”.
Before Haniyeh, Mashal was the chief of Hamas
Khalid Mashal has also been a teacher. Hamas’s Political Bureau was established in 1992 and Mashal was one of its founding members. Mashal became the head of Hamas’s Political Bureau in 1996 and he stepped down from the post in 2017 after his term limit expired. After Mashal’s departure, Ismail Haniyeh became the head of Hamas.
Khaled Mashal, 68, has been operating from exile. From 2004 to 2012, he ran the group from the Syrian capital, Damascus. He now lives in both Qatar and the Egyptian capital, Doha, and Cairo.
In an interview given to Al Jazeera in 2017, Khalid Mashal said, ‘I am one of the founders of the organization. I have been with the organization since day one. I have been a part of Hamas before the official announcement of the formation of Hamas in 1987. Hamas advocates the independence of the whole of Palestine but is ready for a Palestinian state on the borders of 1967 without recognising Israel or giving it any rights.’
When Khalid Mashal survived even after being poisoned by Israel
Khaled Mashaal has been on Israel’s radar. In 1997, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered to kill him. Israeli agents injected poison into him outside his office in Amman, Jordan.
The then King Hussein of Jordan was enraged by this deadly attack by Israel on Khalid Mashal. He demanded from Israel that the killers who poisoned Mashal be hanged and the antidote of the poison be sent so that Mashal could be cured. He threatened Israel that if Israel did not do so before midnight, he would break Jordan’s peace agreement with Israel.
As per Jordan’s request, Israel sent the antidote and also freed Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. However, Israel killed Yassin in Gaza only 7 years later.
Khaled Mashal handles Hamas’ foreign affairs
While living in exile, Mashal represents Hamas in meetings with international governments. Other Hamas leaders are under travel ban by Israel, but Mashal, who lives in exile, is exempt from this. He is an important face of Hamas’s foreign policy.
Controversy in India over Khalid Mashal
There has been a controversy in India regarding Khalid Mashal. On October 27 last year, he addressed an online rally organized by Kerala’s Solidarity Youth Movement in support of Palestinians.
During this, Mashal had said that the world should support the Palestinians in liberating the Al-Aqsa Mosque from Israel and saving Palestinians from Israeli terror. Kerala BJP chief K Surendran was enraged by the participation of the Hamas leader in the online rally and he demanded that legal action be taken against the organizers.