Before I even begin this column let me state a few disclaimers. I don’t rejoice in the death of anyone—even terrorists. Their lives are tragedies, and while their demise may mean the saving of others, it is still a human death of someone who was born with the potential of being a child of God.
Father of Assassinated Hamas Commander
Having said that, when someone, a person or a government, stops a terrorist they are doing right. We all love Jack Bauer. No one has ever criticized Todd Beamer and the passengers of flight 93 of doing anything other than being heroic.
This is why I was so stunned yesterday as I was at the gym on the elliptical machine (the only exercise it seems my back can handle) watching the BBC. The anchorman was speaking of the killing in Dubai of Hamas commander Mahmud Al Mabhuh. He described a “ruthless hit squad” as being responsible. Furthermore the UK’s online Telegraph said that the hit “bears the hallmarks of the ruthless Israeli intelligence service.”
Ruthless…really? You are describing those who stop terrorists as ruthless? I’m sorry, was it Oprah they killed or a terrorist?
Assuming it was the Israelis who did it, ruthless would have been blowing up the entire hotel in order to kill him, something that for the most part, only Radical Muslims do. In contrast, the “hit” was carried out in a way that only the killer was killed. No innocent bystanders were harmed, no buses or restaurants were blown up and no airplanes were highjacked and turned into weapons of mass destruction. Instead, a team of highly trained professionals made this terrorist disappear in a way that not only caused no collateral damage, but most likely was carried out so quick and proficiently that not even the terrorist suffered. I imagine that even his 72 virgins, who awaited him in paradise, were delighted to see him arrive in such good shape.
Drone-launched missiles from the CIA, seeking Al Quada and Taliban targets in Northwest Pakistan, often cause collateral damage—innocent people who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The US justifies this as necessary to get the bad guys. Yet, I don’t hear the BBC calling the US ruthless. On the other hand, Israel takes out an outspoken senior Hamas terrorist with zero collateral damage and they are bloodthirsty warmongers.
Unbelievable.
I wonder what they would have said if a group of Jewish spies were able to assassinate Hitler in the middle of War World II.
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