Who killed Mahmoud?

Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, the butcher of Hamas, was cut down in Dubai. Who took him out is quite mysterious and a matter of some controversy

The Test Is in the Results -Eitan Haber

Let's assume for the moment that the [Israeli] Mossad indeed eliminated the arch-terrorist Mahmoud al-Mabhouh [pictured] in Dubai.

Let's assume that the Mossad operatives were revealed. This is not an embarrassment, it is an impressive achievement. A bitter enemy was killed, not a single operative was arrested.
(Yediot Ahronot-Hebrew)


Dubai Hit Was Not a Botched Job -Yaakov Lappin

Irrespective of who carried out the assassination of senior Hamas terrorist Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai, the operation was meticulously planned and successfully executed, and despite a surprisingly impressive investigation by Dubai police, the hit cannot be considered a botched job.

Mabhouh oversaw the smuggling of Iranian long-range rockets into Gaza, enabling Hamas to threaten the Tel Aviv region, home to more than three million Israelis.

In a video made two weeks before his death and broadcast on Al-Jazeera earlier this month, Mabhouh [bragged] he had kidnapped and murdered two IDF soldiers in 1989. Mabhouh said he had disguised himself as an Orthodox Jew during the attack.
(Jerusalem Post)


Hamas Official Accused of Helping Dubai Hit Squad -Ian Black, et al

Palestinian sources in the Gulf confirmed that Nahro Massoud, a Hamas security official, was under arrest in Syria on suspicion of having helped a hit squad identify Mahmoud al-Mabhouh before he was assassinated in Dubai.
(Guardian-UK)


Palestinian Intelligence Linked to Dubai Killing -Avi Issacharoff

Ahmad Hasnin, a Palestinian intelligence operative, and Anwar Shekhaiber, an employee of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, were arrested in Jordan in connection with the assassination of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai.
(Ha'aretz)


I Can't Help Admiring Israel's Nerve -Melanie Reid

I should be wearing black and uttering pieties about the disgraceful "extrajudicial" killing of Hamas military chief Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, who is rumored to have played a key role in smuggling Iranian-funded arms to Islamist militants in Gaza.

All nice people, quite rightly, are adopting the proper moral stance and expressing outrage and disgust at this affront to international law and justice.

But the rest of us...well, we simply can't wait until the movie comes out.

What the secret agents did was compelling and breathtaking in its cleverness. It is an unfashionable thing to say, but I have a considerable admiration for the Israeli way of doing things. They perceive someone as their deadly enemy, they kill them. They get hit, they hit back.

This absolutism, based on their history, carries its own moral weight; one that is rather electrifying in a Western world grown flabby with niceties.

Clearly, the Israelis could defend their policies if they wanted to, but they quite simply can't be bothered. It's a waste of breath. One admires them for that, too.

Maybe we need the Israelis to remind us that the world is not made according to our template.
(Times-UK)
*

UPDATE:

Did Britain Know in Advance about Hit?

Intelligence sources say Hamas military leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was lured to a meeting in Dubai by two men who had worked with him in Hamas in Gaza. He did not realize they had defected to Fatah, bitter enemies of Hamas, and were secretly working with the Israelis.
(Daily Mail-UK)
*