Report: Israel Helped U.S. in Assassinating Islamic State Leader

Israel aided the U.S. in eliminating the Islamic State terror leader leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi last week, Israeli media reported.

Citing unnamed security sources, Israel’s Channel 13 reported Israel “was involved in the search for al-Qurayshi’s intelligence and contributed, using its sources in Syria, to creating a bridge which allowed the United States to act.”

Israel had tabs on al-Qurayshi and Washington notified Jerusalem of the raid in advance, the report said.

After announcing the raid, President Joe Biden on Thursday said the U.S. had “eliminated a major terrorist threat in the world.”

Al-Qurayshi, “in a final act of desperate cowardice, chose to blow himself up… taking several members of his family with him,” Biden went on.

The target, also known as “The Destroyer,” was one of the most wanted terrorists in the world, yet residents of his adopted hometown of Atme in northwest Syria thought he was a taxi driver.

Al-Qurayshi was in charge of the Islamic State’s “Israel file” before he rose to become the terror group’s leader in October 2019 after his predecessor was killed in a U.S. strike.

According to a report by the Hebrew-language Maariv, which cited former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, Israel has been involved in hundreds of operations against the Islamic State.

The world is a safer place now that the leader of ISIS has been eliminated. I commend our great ally the United States and the brave American soldiers for executing this daring operation.

We must continue the global fight against terror — with strength & determination. https://t.co/rF2tDEfdFx

— Naftali Bennett בנט (@naftalibennett) February 3, 2022

“The world is a safer place now that the leader of ISIS has been eliminated,” Bennett wrote on Twitter.

“I commend our great ally the United States and the brave American soldiers for executing this daring operation. We must continue the global fight against terror — with strength and determination,” he added.

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz echoed the sentiment.

“It broadcasts an important message to the Middle East. The message is that there is the operational and strategic determination of the utmost significance. As a rule, the American modus operandi is to do big operations, and they have the capability,” Gantz said.

“I think it is very important, it is an important message to the world — that when America wants to do something, it can,” he added, in a thinly veiled reference to Iran.