This is an editorial I have written for the Palestine Telegraph, for which I am working now, and that I hope to place as an op-ed elsewhere. Btw, I encourage everyone to read the book, Kill Khalid, which documents the Mossad's earlier attempt on Mishaal's life. It is a fascinating read and very relevant to today.

Amira Hass recently concluded in a commentary in Haaretz that “Israel...continues to spit in the face of friendly countries, and those countries continue to admire the falling raindrops.”

She wrote those words after a series of actions in which Israel took unilateral action against representatives of countries ranging from the United States, to the Czech Republic, to Belgium.  The apartments of their nationals were raided without warning, their citizens deported and their ministers blocked from entering Gaza on humanitarian missions. 

Clearly emboldened by the lack of an international hue and cry, Israel has now outdone even itself. The international police agency Interpol has revealed that the 11 suspects now being sought for the assassination of Hamas official Mahmoud al-Mabhouh on Dubai territory held forged or stolen passports from Britan (six), Ireland (three), France (one) and Germany (one).

Also dragged into this illegal act (assassinations are banned under the UN charter) are Austria (which apparently housed the communications command center) and the United States (five of the suspects used credit cards issued by an American bank to buy plane tickets and other items and services).  As evidence is slowly and painstakingly collected, it is becoming increasingly clear that this illegal act was a brazen repeat of the attempted assassination of Hamas founder Khalid Mishaal in 1997, on Jordanian territory. It caused a firestorm of international recrimination at the time, and Israel was forced to not only produce the antidote to the poison used (unlike Mabhouh, Mishal survived) but to release several high value Palestinian prisoners. The message was clear that such blatant violation of international law and trust between ally nations would not be countenanced.

However, in the 10 years since then, the international community seems to have lost its spine. As the British newspaper the Guardian charged in an editorial several days after the incident: "When (our) government says and does nothing for six days after it was given evidence that Mossad agents stole the identity of six British citizens to assassinate a Hamas commander in Dubai, it starts to seem as if Israel was right to think it could get away with it." 

The Guardian appears to have been proven correct. Although the European Union foreign ministers issued a statement yesterday protesting the use of forged European passports by the hit squad, they stopped well short of blaming Israel for the undercover action. Likewise, no measures were threatened against the Israeli government, nor did the they identify what steps might be taken next, except for cooperation with police inquiries. The United States did even less: Te U.S. State Department has not yet even demanded any clarifications from Israel or the banks involved on the use of U.S.-issued credit cards.

Could there be any clearer evidence of a double standard at work? If there was even half the amount of evidence that the governments of Hamas, Iran or Syra had perpetrated such a brazen action, there would be an international hue and cry of far greater proportions, most likely including sanctions and UN resolutions. The lack of substantive action sends a clear message to the Muslims of the Middle East that Barack Obama and other Western leaders have tried to court in recent months: Israel can get away with any wrong, while the Palestinians and their supporters will be punished for every questionable act of their leaders. Meanwhile, the citizens of Great Britain and the other countries involved should take note: Their identities can be stolen for malevolent purposes, and their own governments will do nothing to prevent such acts or protect them if the crime occurs. Lost in all of the publicity about the political maneuvering is the fact that the citizens involved, who had no idea of the purpose to which their passports were being used, are now afraid to leave their own homes.

It's time to start applying the same standards of law and decency to our allies as we do to our enemies. There must be full, international support of the Dubai government's investigation; an independent, companion inquiry into the activities in all countries involved; the release of a public report; and real penalties attached to the findings. It's time to prove our "outrage" with action.