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Murdered by Hamas – Avi Sasportas
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No longer with us – Mabhouh

'We dressed up like settlers'

Killed Hamas man al-Mabhouh describes killing of IDF soldier in interview aired for first time

The al-Jazeera network aired an interview Thursday where assassinated Hamas man Mahmoud al-Mabhouh described the murder of an IDF soldier in the late 1980s.

 

The interview was filmed about a year ago and was aired by al-Jazeera for the first time. Al-Mabhouh, who was killed in Dubai earlier this year, is considered the mastermind behind the killing of the soldier, Avi Sasportas.

 

On February 16, 1989 a vehicle carrying two Hamas terrorists picked up Sasportas, who was hitchhiking near his base. Thousands of police officers, soldiers, and volunteers took part in the subsequent search for the abducted soldier that lasted 81 days.

 

Sasportas' body was found in May 1989 at an open field near the intersection he was abducted from.

 

"We dressed up like settlers and put a kippa on our head like rabbis," al-Mabhouh said in the interview. His partner in the operation, nicknamed "Abu Sihab," said: "We saw the Israeli soldier; he signaled to us at the side of the road and we stopped for him. We asked him: 'Where are you heading to?' He said: 'Ashkelon' and we told him to come with us."

 

Al-Mabhouh said that, in line with the plan, the abductors rode with Sasportas for about 3 kilometers (roughly 2 miles), before shooting two bullets in his face using a handgun. Next, they buried his body.

 

"The objective was to get the brothers out of Israeli jails in order to mitigate their suffering, and shift the war into the 1948 territories in order to embarrass the enemy," al-Mabhouh said. "The preparations were not simple and lasted for about a month. We needed an agricultural plot of land in order to dig a secret prison there to hold the soldiers and officers we wanted to abduct."

 

The interview with al-Mabhouh was aired as part of the latest chapter in a series dedicated to the establishment of Hamas' "Unit 101" by al-Mabhouh and a partner, on the orders of senior Hamas man Salah Sahade. The Unit's mission was to abduct Israeli soldiers in order to swap them for Palestinian prisoners.

 


פרסום ראשון: 03.18.10, 22:14
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