Crossword Genius

He has a belief beef should be totally eliminated (3)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

ali

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'he' is the definition.

'a belief beef should be totally eliminated' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'a' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'li' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'has' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for ali that I've seen before include "Fourth caliph of Islam" , "Lepidopterous floater, apian stinger, d. 2016" , "Muhammad ... (former fighter)" , "Muhammad - - , legendary boxer" , "Muhammad --, US boxer" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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