The Assassination of Engineer al-Zawari

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

The martyr Mohamed al-Zawari was one of the Arab world’s creative minds, who decided to put his creativity in the service of the Arab resistance against the Zionists. Al-Zawari emerged in Tunisia as a creative student, studying at the University of Sfax, and moved from one Arab country to another. He excelled in the field of electronics, and led his students toward an interest in manufacturing drones, and according to media reports had experimented with flight while at university. His zeal for the land of the Arabs drove him to join the Palestinian resistance in Gaza, and he slipped through the tunnels to join Hamas. Gaza was immersed in developing its weapons to be more capable of confronting the Zionists, and so it was the fitting environment for al-Zawari to complete his creative work. He began working, and according to various media outlets, was able to render great and extensive services in developing the Ababil drone, which penetrated Zionist airspace and demonstrated the Arabs’ fighting will. Media outlets said he had been working to develop the drone so it could carry rocket payloads that would somewhat adjust the balance of power tilted in the Zionists’ favor. But the Zionists learned of him, tracked him down, and cut him down with bullets in the sanctity of his own home in Sfax, Tunisia. They killed him, and he died a martyr defending his Arab nation and the Islamic holy sites.

Questions That Must Be Asked

There are a number of questions that must be put to Tunisia and to Gaza. First we ask: why did Tunisia fail to make use of this creative engineer, who was no unknown figure on university campuses? At the very least, from an economic standpoint, it would have been possible to establish an industrial center for the martyr through which he could develop aircraft that could be marketed to many countries around the world, just as the Zionists do. But the difference between Arabs and Zionists is that the Zionists search for creative minds, while Arabs kill their creative minds. And after he came to Gaza, how did al-Zawari’s name come to be promoted so that it became known to a number of people? Security professionalism requires that the name of anyone who joins the ranks of the resistance remain secret, with contact with him managed by security methods that do not allow his photograph to be taken, his voice recorded, or his physical description known, and so on. It is true that Hamas exerts great effort to achieve security fortification, but a Palestinian culture of security laxity seems to have overridden all this caution. Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and all the Palestinian resistance factions are required to seek the help of security experts — preferably from Hezbollah — to improve their security conditions.

Perhaps there is also something in Arab culture that often exposes people to danger. Arabs love boasting, including boasting about having information on matters hidden from the general public. If someone learned about al-Zawari, without being a spy himself, he might tell a friend about the accomplishments this fighter was achieving. And the friend boasts to another friend, until the circle widens and the news reaches the Zionists with ease. The Arab ranks are infiltrated on the security level from every angle, and there is no corner of Arab life in which Israel has not recruited agents and spies. Rulers and their aides deny this, but our many, complicated experiences prove the truth of our claim and the falseness of the rulers’ and their aides’ claims. Indeed it is likely, even certain, that some rulers themselves are agents and spies for Israel and America. Arabs watched on television screens as one Arab king landed his helicopter in Tel Aviv to tell the Zionist prime minister that Syria and Egypt were about to launch a war soon, though he did not tell her the exact date, because he did not know it himself. And this same king, according to Mohamed Hassanein Heikal, used to receive a monthly salary from the American Central Intelligence Agency amounting to a million dollars a month. And another king in the Arab Maghreb used to host Zionist Mossad men in a room adjacent to where the Arab summit was being held, providing them with listening devices so they could hear the finest details of the Arab deliberations. And in the Palestinian experience, there have been very many security scandals that claimed the lives of hundreds of Palestinian martyrs and tens of thousands of detainees as victims.

There are other questions as well, such as: how did Israel know that al-Zawari had left Gaza, and how was he tracked over a period of time without the knowledge of the Tunisian security services? And given that the man was of such scientific importance, carrying with it such technical significance, why didn’t the Tunisian security services assign a team to guard him and watch over his safety? Often, I find myself thinking that the Arab regimes are simply not concerned with protecting creative minds and scientists, because they fear the power of Israel and America, and fear these people themselves, sincere in their loyalty and commitment, preferring instead to leave them as prey for the Zionist Mossad.

Why do Arab regimes fear protecting creative minds and inventors? The reason is simple: most Arab regimes depend on Western states financially and in matters of security. A number of Arab regimes cannot even pay salaries at the end of the month, and others cannot survive without securing protection from America and Israel. And whoever wants help from the enemy must obey the enemy and do as the enemy wishes. Israel and America roam freely across the Arab arena, and whoever does not open his house to the aggressors and invaders will meet nothing but calamities and horrors.

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “اغتيال المهندس الزواري” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.