Israel has finally admitted to what long has been suspected: That its secret spy agency was responsible for the assassination of a top lieutenant of Yasser Arafat nearly three decades ago.

Khalil Ibrahim Wazir (aka Abu Jihad), a founder of the Fatah Party, was living in Tunisia in April 1988 when a group of attackers stormed his home and killed him.

Observers suspected that Mossad, Israel’s clandestine intelligence unit, was behind the killing. But the Israeli government denied any involvement at the time.

Then, 12 years later, the officer who led the commando raid, Nahum Lev, gave an interview to the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot, in which he revealed that Mossad had orchestrated the attack.

But government censors blocked the newspaper from publishing its story until this week.

According to the account provided by Lev, who died in a motorcycle accident shortly after the interview, more than two dozen Israeli commandos descended on Wazir’s heavily guarded home. They killed not only Wazir but also his guards and a bystander gardener. "I had read every page of the file on [Wazir]," said Lev. "Abu Jihad was connected to horrific acts against civilians. He was marked for death. I shot him with no hesitation."

Wazir was wanted by Israel for planning numerous terrorist attacks, including a 1978 bus-hijacking that killed 38 Israelis. He also helped organize the 1987 Palestinian uprising known as the first Intifada.

The assassination was condemned by the international community, including the United States.

–Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

Israel Admits Responsibility for 1988 Assassination (by Edmund Sanders, Los Angeles Times)

Israel Admits to 1988 Assassination (The Telegraph)

Israel “Admits” Killing Arafat's Deputy (Aljazeera)