Cornell Business

Issue date: 3/8/10 Section: Perspectives

On January 19 of this year Mahmoud al-Mahbouh, a leading terrorist associated with the Palestinian Islamic movement known as Hamas, checked into his room at a luxury hotel in Dubai. At some point in the afternoon, several assailants broke into his room and wrestled him to the ground, first injecting him with a strong muscle relaxant called succhinylcholine and then smothering his face with a pillow. Within a few minutes he was dead. Now, a month later, evidence has emerged suggesting that the assassins were Israeli Mossad agents who used false European passports to get into Dubai. Predictably, this new evidence has prompted an outburst of self-righteous fury from Europe with France, the UK, and Ireland all condemning the incident and demanding immediate diplomatic action from Israel over the alleged killing. Before we join them on the high ground of moralistic indignation, we need to consider why it's sometimes a necessary evil for Israel to conduct these sorts of operations on foreign soil.

First, al-Mahbouh was no angel. As a founder of Hamas's military wing, the Izzat ad-Din al-Qassam Brigade, al-Mahbouh has been directly and indirectly responsible for dozens of attacks on both Israeli military and civilian targets. While disguised as an Orthodox Jew, he personally led a mission to abduct two Israeli soldiers who were later brutally murdered in captivity. When he was assassinated in Dubai al-Mahbouh was en route to SE Asia to organize material support from Iran to conduct further attacks on Israel. As one of the most able and competent Hamas commanders, al-Mahbouh posed a real threat to the security of Israeli citizens.

Second, Israel doesn't have the option of facing its most dangerous enemies on home soil. Due to the Arab world's hostility towards the Jewish state, the most militant of Palestinian terrorists are able to operate openly in Arab countries in a way that would be impossible in the West Bank or Gaza Strip. As these same countries won't even allow access to Israelis, Mossad agents are forced to use passports from other countries if they are going to take the necessary steps to prevent further attacks on Israeli troops and civilians back home.

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