Khaled Meshaal is reportedly the new leader of Hamas after the assassination of Ismail Haniya, according to Reuters.

Meshaal became famous around the world in 1997 after Israeli agents tried to kill him by injecting him with poison on a street outside his office in the Jordanian capital Amman.

In fact, the failed assassination attempt on him so enraged then-King Hussein of Jordan that he threatened to hang the would-be assassins and abrogate Jordan’s peace treaty with Israel unless they handed over the antidote.

Israel did so and also agreed to release Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, whom it assassinated seven years later in Gaza.

Meshaal, 68, became one of Hamas’ political leaders in exile a year before Israel tried to oust him, a position that allowed him to represent the Palestinian Islamist group in meetings with foreign governments around the world, unimpeded. from the strict Israeli travel restrictions that affected.

Hamas sources said Meshaal is expected to be chosen as the organization’s leader to replace Ismail Haniya, who was assassinated in Iran early Wednesday, with Tehran and Hamas vowing retaliation against Israel.

Meshaal’s relations with Iran have been strained due to his previous support for the 2011 Sunni Muslim uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

One of the dilemmas Meshaal is expected to face is whether to choose to take a more pragmatic approach with Israel in its pursuit of Palestinian statehood, or to continue fighting as Hamas’ positions since 1988 call for Israel’s destruction .

Realist with Israel

Meshaal rejects the idea of ​​a permanent one peace agreement with Israelbut said Hamas could accept a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem as a temporary solution under a long-term ceasefire.

Referring to the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel, Messal said it brought the Palestinian cause back to the center of the world agenda.

He urged Arabs and Muslims to join the fight against Israel and said the Palestinians alone will decide who will rule Gaza after the war ends, despite Israel and the United States wanting to exclude Hamas from post-war governance .

He joined the Muslim Brotherhood at 15

Meshaal lived most of his life outside the Palestinian territories. Born in Silwad near the West Bank city of Ramallah, he moved with his family to Kuwait.

At the age of 15 he joined the Muslim Brotherhood, the oldest Islamist group in the Middle East. The Brotherhood was instrumental in the creation of Hamas in the late 1980s during the first Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation.

Meshaal became a teacher before turning to lobbying for Hamas from abroad for many years. He was responsible for international fundraising in Jordan.

Meshaal led Hamas from exile in Damascus from 2004 until January 2012, when he fled the Syrian capital amid President Assad’s harsh crackdown on Sunnis who had joined a rebellion against him.