A group of unidentified assailants shot Tunisian Mohammed Alzoari as he was driving near his home in Sfax, Tunisia, Dec. 15. Alzoari was struck by a hail of bullets and died on the spot. The assailants disappeared, leaving behind cell phones, silencers and a rental car. There were no other clues that might have helped the Tunisian authorities identify them.

Alzoari was an aeronautical engineer who specialized in the manufacture of drones. For the last few years, he was employed by Hamas and Hezbollah. According to sources in Tunis, he also designed an unmanned naval vessel, apparently submersible and capable of attacking targets at sea. In an interview with a Tunisian radio station, Hamas spokesman Mosheib al-Masri said that only Israel stands to benefit from the assassination of Alzoari. Hamas placed direct responsibility on Israel for the assassination. Local newspapers reported that the Mossad had been following Alzoari for the past few weeks and was responsible for the “sterile” assassination after meticulous preparations.

On Dec. 20, five days after the assassination, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman responded to a question about the incident, saying, “If someone was killed in Tunisia, he’s not likely to be a peace activist or a Nobel Prize candidate.”

Apart from this brief statement, Israel has been silent, as usual. Ever since the ruckus surrounding Israel’s alleged assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai in 2010 and the ensuing international scandal, Israel’s intelligence establishment has been on the defensive. Its most senior officials, including top retired officers, refuse to comment on the latest assassination in any way whatsoever. Western intelligence experts are convinced that the reports from Tunisia are correct and that the Mossad was involved. The big difference is that this time, whoever was behind the killing has adjusted to the contemporary reality, in which everything everywhere is captured on video.