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Defense minister: Israel did not kill Hamas engineer, rival Palestinian faction did

Liberman said al-Batsh was killed as part of infighting between rival Palestinian factions. 

By: World Israel News Staff

Israel’s Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman denied that Israel was behind the assassination of a Hamas-linked engineer in Malaysia, blaming it on infighting between rival Palestinian factions.

Speaking to IDF Radio on Sunday, Liberman said that “we heard about it [the assassination] in the news. The terrorist organizations blame every assassination on Israel – we’re used to that.”

“Maybe James Bond is behind the hit,” he said.

“The man was no saint and he didn’t deal with improving infrastructure in Gaza – he was involved in improving rockets’ accuracy. We constantly see a settling of accounts between various factions in the terrorist organizations and I suppose that is what happened in this case as well.”

The Hamas terror group claimed Saturday that Fadi al-Batsh, an electronics scientist linked to its drone development program, was assassinated by the Mossad.

Malaysian police say the 34-year-old al-Batsh was shot early Saturday by two assailants who killed him as he was heading to a mosque for dawn prayers in Kuala Lampur.

Besides his Hamas affiliation, al-Batsh was also a cousin of Khaled al-Batsh, a senior official in the Islamic Jihad terror group, who accused Mossad of the assassination, without providing evidence.

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Al-Batsh is believed to have been a senior member in the Hamas terror organization.

Hamas leader in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh said “the Palestinian people will remain resilient.”

“There will be an unsettled account between us and it,” Haniyeh said at al-Batsh’s Gaza mourning tent, referring to the Mossad. “We cannot give up on the blood of our sons, youths and scholars.”

Hamas has dispatched a senior delegation to hold meetings with Malaysian officials and “follow up closely” on the details “of the crime.”