I slept well on Tuesday night. Ismail Haniyeh didn’t. This political head of Hamas was assassinated at 2 AM in Tehran.
How do you say to assassinate in Hebrew? Two ways.
The direct translation is להתנקש, always followed by the letter ב, usually followed by בחיי (in the life of).
For example:
התנקשו בחיי הנייה לפנות בוקר.
(They) assassinated Haniyeh in the early morning.
The root of להתנקש is נ.ק.ש, the concept of hitting/tapping (don’t confuse להתנקש with להתנשק – to kiss, whose root is נ.ש.ק). This is the same root as that of להקיש – to tap, though the נ letter doesn’t appear.
For example:
לאנגלית, נא להקיש שתיים.
For English, please press (tap) two.
Now, להתנקש is the direct translation. The term you’re more likely to encounter in the Hebrew media is לחסל – to eliminate, while assassination (elimination) is חיסול.
For example:
שני החיסולים האחרונים הם רעידת אדמה לארגוני הטרור.
The two recent assassinations are an earthquake for the terror organizations.
The word for assassination using להתנקש as its basis is התנקשות.
