A great read, but... Most people says Israel did it even though nobody has a proof of the case. Israel is the usual suspect in any death of a Palestinian terrorist, and so far there has been little more than the usual suspicious. A couple of Palestinians were arrested, that seems to be it.
The author says the lesson to whomever killed that guy is that nowadays you cannot get away with it. My question is -- who exactly did not get away with it this time?
From Associated Press (link is to Washington Post):
"Israel's parliamentary opposition leader on Tuesday praised the assassination of a Hamas commander in Dubai last month"
Let's think about it. This definetly caused a diplomatic blow to Israel. If they indeed didn't do it, they would have revved up their propaganda machine to the maximum denying everything. They are not, they are praising it. At this point arguing if Israel did or not is a little silly I think.
"If they indeed didn't do it, they would have revved up their propaganda machine to the maximum denying everything." This is a good argument, but I am not sure how strong it is. I can easily imagine them not doing that.
Hitler got away with annexing Sudetenland. And yet his photographs and "footage showing how the operation was conducted" was widely available.
Not getting away with something means having been punished for that. I do not see it happening this time, not yet anyway. This is why I say that the author's thesis is premature.
Lets go through the many ways in which Israel is being punished for this:
* Twenty five agents have had their identities compromised. Bear in mind that agents you can send into a foreign country to participate in an assassination do not grow on trees, even if you're Israel. This has not just impaired Mossad's supply of agents, it is also a blow to the morale of the organisation.
* These twenty five are at a real risk of reprisals in the years to come. If a video of one of them turns up with a bag over their head this will do further damage to Israel's prestige and Mossad's morale.
* Worse still, the identities of foreign nationals have been stolen. This has angered nations that actually matter, ie prosperous Western nations. Israel is not in a strong geopolitical position, it relies on the goodwill of it's allies.
* The goal of the exercise, to eliminate a threat and strike fear into Israel's opponents, has been poorly accomplished. It's caused Israel no end of diplomatic troubles and made it's victim a martyr. Actually eliminating an arms dealer isn't much cause for celebration anyway as there's an almost endless supply of them. You'll run out of wetwork teams long before they run out of arms dealers.
* Finally, footage of Israel's incompetence have been displayed on TVs all around the world. You don't strike fear into the hearts of your enemies by cocking up repeatedly on TV.
Essentially, this was a political, not a military, operation, and it's failure has punished Israel politically.
The author says the lesson to whomever killed that guy is that nowadays you cannot get away with it. My question is -- who exactly did not get away with it this time?