Lieberman: Assassinated Tunisian drone expert ‘not a peace activist’

Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman addressed the killing last week of a Tunisian engineer linked to Hamas, saying that Israel “will continue to do in the best possible way what we know how to do — that is to protect our interests.”

Mohammed Al-Zawari was shot dead in his car in Sfax last Thursday. Israel, as is its custom, has not responded to accusations that it was behind the assassination.

According to the report in the Times of Israel, Lieberman made the remarks yesterday evening at an event at the Zionist Organisation of America House in Tel Aviv.

“If someone was killed in Tunisia, he’s not likely to be a peace activist or a Nobel Prize candidate,” Lieberman said.

The Tunisian government has claimed that “at least two foreigners” were involved in the shooting, with analysts suggesting that Israel’s intelligence and espionage agency Mossad were most likely behind the killing.

Interior Minister Hedi Mejdoub said that local journalists hired by foreign individuals posing as a media company were, apparently unwittingly, involved in the preparations for the hit. According to Mejdoub, “planning for the killing took place over months, since at least June.”

The minister also revealed that “the organisers prepared two plans for two teams, in case one failed or was caught. The hit was planned meticulously and thoroughly.”

Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigade told AFP on Saturday that Al-Zawari was killed by “Zionist treachery”, and that he was a drone expert who had worked for the “resistance” for 10 years.