Got another one

Israel has taken out another terrorist leader, this time a senior Islamic Jihad commander responsible for hundreds of innocent Israeli deaths. (Leave it to Reuters to refer to him as a “militant”):

Israeli troops killed a top militant in the Bank on Monday, while Gaza gunmen fired several rockets toward Israel in a flare-up of violence that threatened to unravel an eight-month ceasefire.

Israeli troops shot dead Islamic Jihad commander Loai Assadi during a raid in the West Bank city of Tulkarm. He was the most senior Palestinian militant to be killed since the start of the truce in March.

Islamic Jihad gunmen in northern Gaza said they fired 25 rockets into Israel in retaliation. There were no casualties. The army said several landed in open fields in Israel and that they responded with artillery fire into Gaza.

Militant groups in Gaza, including Islamic Jihad and Hamas, stopped firing rockets last month after a similar flare-up in violence in which Israel killed several gunmen in retaliation for rocket and mortar bomb salvoes.

Islamic Jihad vowed to avenge the killing of Assadi, 26, who Israel had accused of masterminding suicide bombings that killed 10 Israelis since the truce was declared in February.

That’s one… two… three references to the nonexistent truce. And anyone notice how it’s five paragraphs into the article before anyone mentions that the Islamic Jihad killed Israeli citizens – and even then, it’s a whitewashed mention? Then again, why would I expect differently from Reuters?

And as we brace ourselves for the inevitable criticism of Israel for “threatening the truce-that-isn’t”, the reasons behind these targeted attacks will surely get lost in the shuffle:

Israeli officials say Assadi was behind two suicide bombings this year, one that killed five people at an Israeli shopping mall in the coastal city of Netanya in July and another that killed five Israelis outside a Tel Aviv nightclub in February.

Army Colonel Aharon Haliva, commander of the force that entered Tulkarm, said troops had surrounded a house where Assadi, long at the top of Israel’s wanted list, was hiding and killed him when he fired on them as he tried to escape. A soldier was lightly hurt.

The army said Assadi had planned to send a suicide bomber into Israel in coming days.

But of course, it’s Israel threatening the peace. Riiiiiight.