Assassination in Dubai

I've just returned from two weeks in Israel where one of the lead stories has been the assassination of Hamas's arms buyer and smuggler Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai.

While the world condemns Israel for the assassination, something Israeli officials neither admit nor deny, others are analyzing Israel's or, for that matter, any other country's right to eliminate its enemies in a time of war.

The Financial Times, FT.com, provides one view written by Andrew Roberts in "Israel is no more rogue than America."

Commenting on articles by Henry Siegman and David Gardner condemning the killing, Roberts says,

"Both commentators are completely wrong. All that the Dubai operation will do is remind the world that the security services of states at war – and Israel’s struggle with Hamas, Fatah and Hizbollah certainly constitutes that – occasionally employ targeted assassination as one of the weapons in their armoury, and that this in no way weakens their legitimacy."

Roberts does not believe that the condemnation of Israel is valid. He examines what other countries have done in times of war to reinforce his point.

All in all, Roberts makes a good case for the proposition that countries at war sometimes have to resort to actions that are not pleasant but are necessary nonetheless. Typically, reader comments on the article have run both ways.

Read the full article by going to the link above.