Who Was Ziad Malaisha of the Anat Kam Affair?

Ziad MalaishaPic: Ziad Malaisha

Maliasha in a video clip typical of the last testament published by terrorist organizations after a suicide bombingPic: YouTube

A Tel Aviv court has lifted the gag order which prevented the Israeli media from reporting on the Anat Kam affair. Kam, 23, is accused of a series of serious offences, including espionage, leaking secret information without authorization in an attempt to compromise the State's security and possession of classified information. Allegedly she stole over 2,000 secret documents while she served in the IDF and then transferred them to Haaretz journalist Uri Blau, who proceeded to write a series of reports based on the information in these documents.

On November 26, 2008, Blau published a report which claimed that the IDF does not operate in accordance with the High Court's ruling on targeted killings. The article uncovered documents which were written as part of the IDF investigation documenting the work of the Central Command before the operation during which Ziad Malaisha, a wanted Islamic Jihad militant, was killed. Haaretz contended that, in violation of the High Court’s order, an okay was given to assassinate Malaisha when he could simply have been arrested.

On November 27, 2008, the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs published an article by Jonathan Dahoah Halevi which outlined the Malaisha affair from the perspective of the Islamic Jihad.

The Islamic Jihad’s official website said that Ziad Malaisha was commander of the Jerusalem Battalions, the military wing of the organization. He was born in 1982 to what was described as a "fighting family" in the village of Jaba near Jenin. During his youth he had secretly joined the Islamic Jihad and was active in the al-Ja’Maah al-Islamiya school, a student organization of the Islamic Jihad. He continued this activity even while studying at Al-Quds Open University. Malaisha was arrested for his activities by the IDF, and was sentenced to three and a half years in prison. After his release he once again became wanted for security reasons. He went underground, commanded the Jerusalem Battalions and participated in operations against Israel.

Malaisha’s friends said that he was always at the forefront of fighting against the IDF and led the Mujahideen whenever Israeli forces entered the villages near Jenin. They say he was proud of his belonging to the organization of Fathi Shaqaqi (the founder of the Islamic Jihad who was assassinated in 1995) and said that "the destiny of Shaqaqi’s sons is to die fighting for Allah's way".

Malaisha would regularly carry his rifle and explosives, and stated to his friends: "I'll be a bomb that will explode in their faces every minute and every second." Malaisha regularly spoke about dying for Allah and encouraged his comrades to wage jihad.

Furthermore, a video posted to YouTube entitled “Last Testament” shows Maliasha armed and dressed like a terrorist preparing for a suicide attack. This video clip is typical of the last testament clips regularly published by terrorist organizations after carrying out a suicide bombing. The video shows that Ziad Malaisha was a ticking bomb and it would be a dangerous challenge to try to arrest him in a peaceful way.

According to residents in the village, around one o'clock in the morning Israeli Special Forces broke into Kafr Dan, driving vehicles with Palestinian license plates. They broke into several homes and set up ambushes in an area near a house in which Malaisha and another wanted individual, Ibrahim Abed, were. Once positioned in the ambush, IDF vehicles entered the village in order to pull the fighters out of their positions so they could attack them, and they would be then be under fire from the ambushed forces.

Upon receiving news of the entry of IDF forces into the village, Malaisha and Abed rushed out of hiding and were on their way to join the rest of the fighters. They were ambushed and shot, and had to take cover behind a mound. Residents of the village said that even though they were surrounded, they refused to surrender and instead waged a fierce battle during which they hurled 20 explosive devices at IDF forces. They were fatally wounded from a missile fired from a helicopter, and later died from their wounds. According to residents, the IDF did not give them any medical care.

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