Mossad assassination simply wrong

TO THE Israeli government, Mahmoud al- Mabhouh was an enemy in a war for the Jewish state's survival.

The Hamas commander, suspected of visiting Dubai last month as part of a mission to buy arms for use against Israeli targets, was therefore – in Tel Aviv's eyes – a legitimate target for assassination. Small matters such as his location in a peaceful Arab state and the duplicitous and diplomatically provocative methods used to kill him were mere details. Doubts about the legitimacy of the operation would be regarded as quibbles that paled into insignificance in the face of the compelling case for ridding themselves of an enemy.

In the moral universe inhabited by the Israeli secret service Mossad, the belief is that terror groups would not hesitate to use such methods against Israeli or Western governments, so why should these men be treated any differently in return? This belief is a persuasive one in many ways. And it is wrong. Plain and simple. We should not need practical lessons in why this is the case, but the way the US treated terror suspects under the Bush administration is a telling case in point. Rendition, Guantanamo, waterboarding – these three words and more are now extremely effective recruiting sergeants for wannabe jihadists and suicide bombers, and perhaps more importantly the network of sympathisers that provide them with support across the world. But that is a small reason. National governments must uphold the rule of law. Or we are no better than the terrorists themselves.