Yossi Alpher sees “hypocrisy” all around the world in the Dubai hit story, a common enough sentiment in Israel. When Germany opened a “murder” investigation, Ynetnews put the word in quotes.
But the hawkish Alpher also notes a hard fact: Israel’s policy of extrajudicial assassination does very little to make Israelis more secure in the long run. Indeed, such tactics have reliably served to strengthen its most militant foes.
With assassination suspects possibly still on U.S. soil, the Dubai assassins have dragged America into row over fake passports, says Times Online in London.
With police investigations already underway in Australia, Ireland, and Germany, the Obama administration is going to deal with this. WashPost and NYT are still playing the story inside, appropriate in light of the fact that there has been no official U.S. reaction, but that’s not going to last long.
For the Obama administration, this is where the rhetoric of the president’s Cairo address meets the realities of Middle East decisionmaking. Of course, Israel has the right to defend itself, and of course the U.S. assassinates al-Qaeda leaders every day. But the leaders and the publics of Arab countries (like the United Arab Emirates, where the hit took place) that are open to peace with Israel (and some of whom want U.S. help to deter Iran) are not going to be satisfied by the talking points that go over well in Washington and on cable TV.
Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal stokes speculation of a regional war, and Israel’s Ynet News plays the story big.
Electronic Lebanon tamps it down:
Even through the threat of war with Israel is ever-present, neither Israel nor Hizballah seem to have the appetite for another war in the short term.
Analysis: If there is a war, Hamas doesn’t want to fight Israel alone as it got punished in the Gaza war. Meshaal said as much. The Lebanese prefer not to be testing ground for Israeli experiments in “deterrence,” which usually (not always) involve civilian casualties, said to be inadvertent.
None of which means there won’t be war.
What they’re saying about the violent death of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in the European press.
Israels has not denied responsibility and there’s no denying extrajudicial summary justice is a tool of U.S. and Israeli decisionmakers. Hamas says it is not effective.. DebkaFile, the voice of Zionist militarism, says 13 more Hamas leaders have been targeted. While Hamas debates whether it should get into the international assassination business, the group hopes the Dubai police will act.
That American journalists are averse to reading the Goldstone report documenting Israeli and Palestinian war crimes during the Gaza war of 2008 goes without saying. David Kenner of Foreign Policy makes that plain. He reads the Goldstone report (and Israel’s less than convincing response) “so that you don’t have to.”
Thus heavy moral burdens of the Washington reporter are eased. You don’t have to get familiar with the question of justice in Israel and Palestine. Just get your talking points and move on. On four key points, Kenner compares the South African jurist’s scathing report on Israeli Defense Forces actions during the Gaza war with Israel’s stout defense.
Guess who comes out ahead?
…just asking, says a legislator for the Islamic party/militia in bitterlemons-international.org.
Guess who’s winning? The National in Qatar says Hamas.
