If indeed Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif was killed when IDF forces targeted him on Saturday, "it would be a very important achievement for Israel but it's not the end of the world for Hamas or the end of the war" according to Haaretz senior security analyst Amos Harel, speaking to host Allison Kaplan Sommer on this week's Haaretz Podcast about the events that rocked the past weekend - the targeting of Deif and the attempt on the life of former President Donald Trump.
Although many Israeli security officials believe Deif was eliminated in the air assault in Gaza's Khan Yunis, Harel was cautious in his assessment, given that the head of Hamas's military wing has escaped multiple attempts on his life in the past.
As one of the "two major planners involved every inch of the way" when it came to the horrific massacres of October 7, Harel said it was "very important from an Israeli perspective to settle the score."
Also on the podcast, Haaretz Washington correspondent Ben Samuels discusses the effects of the Trump assassination attempt on the Republican National Convention, which is set to showcase campus antisemitism as one of it's "top tier issues."
Samuels, speaking from Milwaukee where he is covering the convention says the reason, is "because it hits at so many issues that Republicans in America these days really care about - it touches on immigration, foreign policy, and national security. So it makes sense that Republicans will really try to seize upon this as a key theme over the next few days" and point to it as a negative development that happened on Joe Biden's watch.