The murder of two of its citizens in Brussels last week by an unknown gunman raises an interesting question: If the Belgian police fail to bring the shooter to justice, might the attack prompt Israel to act on its long-standing policy of targeted killings?
Known in Hebrew as sikul memukad, or focused thwarting, proactive strikes against known perpetrators have been a part of Israel’s antiterrorism arsenal since at least 1972, when, in the wake of a Palestinian assault in Munich that left 11 of its Olympic athletes dead, then Prime Minister Golda Meir convened a small committee of cabinet ministers—dubbed Committee X—to devise an appropriate response. The committee, which included Defense Minister Moshe Dayan and the head of the Mossad Zvi Zamir, drew up a list of targets, which Meir approved.
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