Once again, western governments have failed to consolidate their war against terrorism by taking decisive action against terrorist acts like the one committed in Dubai in January. Terrorist acts, wherever they are committed and by whoever, should be totally rejected, whether they were planned in Tora Bora or in Tel Aviv. This has not yet happened in the case of the assassination of Hamas commander Mahmoud Al Mabhouh.
Let's first be clear that the crime committed in Dubai is a terrorist act, whichever way you look at it. It is an unprovoked international crime committed by a 26-member squad of murderers against a sovereign and peaceful country. The perpetrators used the passports of five western nations. Undoubtedly, targeting a man whose name is not on the international list of terrorists regardless of his background and affiliation and murdering him in another country is not acceptable under international law. The international community should not accept such a murder under any circumstances. It must be considered an act of war that is meant to tarnish the image of the country as a peaceful oasis, and an attack against its stability and prosperity.
The UAE, which has won international recognition for its efforts in the war against terror in the past decade, has made a valuable contribution to this war and should not be left alone to fight the perpetrators of this crime, which was committed on its soil.
The five western countries whose passports were used to facilitate the assassination of Al Mabhouh have moral and legal responsibilities towards Dubai. They must undertake genuine action to uncover the perpetrators and bring them to justice. Such an international crime must not be handled through lip service here and there. The perpetrators should not be let off the hook and an international investigation team should look into the crime and uncover the people and institutions behind it, whoever they may be.
The US, which has been leading the war against terror, has a role to play too. Keeping silent this time will not help the US win this war. It will rather give ammunition to terrorist groups the US is fighting.
Pleasing terrorists
Yes, terrorists are quite happy to see the weak reaction to the crime committed in Dubai. In my opinion, Osama Bin Laden and other members of Al Qaida are content with the mild international response to the assassination of Al Mabhouh. It gives them the ammunition they badly need to win the hearts and minds of young men and women in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, and even in countries as far as Indonesia and Mali. Bin Laden and his comrades are most probably uploading a message to the Islamic Ummah on the internet, criticising western hypocrisy and double standards. To consider murdering Al Mabhouh anything other than a terrorist act is applying a different standard for an act that Israel is suspected to be behind. This will help Al Qaida and its chief Bin Laden to spread the message, and help him don the garb of Robin Hood. Denying Al Qaida this opportunity can only be done by genuinely fighting terrorist acts, whoever is behind them. This is the only way to show Al Qaida and its sympathisers that the war against terrorism is not a war against Islam and Muslims.
The blatant terrorist act committed in Dubai, where crystal-clear evidence was collected and displayed to the world by Dubai Police, deserves a much stronger reaction than vague diplomatic words. The message conveyed to the Israeli ambassadors to the countries directly linked to the crime, through the use of their passports, was very weak and not an adequate reaction to the horrible crime.
The reaction of these western governments suggests one of two things or even both: it is either that these countries are involved in the crime through their intelligence services working alongside Mossad, and/or Israel is above the law and Mossad is the only institution that can commit a terrorist act without being subjected to the international standards used to fight terrorism.
Furthermore, the international reaction to the Dubai crime has prompted an ex-Mossad assassin and suspected war criminal, Tzipi Livni, applaud the killing of Al Mabhouh. She has called on countries around the world to open their territories to Israeli agents so that they can kill whoever Israel brands a terrorist.
Livni's statement, in which she gave her blessing to the killing of "terrorists" regardless of their whereabouts whether in Dubai or Gaza adds a new twist to the war against terrorism, serving the interest of Israel. Claiming that the entire world should support the assassination of Al Mabhouh is a silly joke by Livni, who has no right to preach to the world about virtue, given her own criminal record.
The visit of a British security team to Israel to investigate how the passports of British nationals were used in executing the terrorist act in Dubai must be followed by investigations from other countries involved. The results of the investigations must be presented to the world in a transparent way to reassure everyone that no country or institution is above the law. The UN Security Council should possibly be involved too, to give the operation international legal status.
If the world is sincere about the war against terrorism and hopes to win it, the international community, including the US and the five countries whose passports were used in the Dubai murder, should act swiftly and decisively against the perpetrators. They must help Dubai to bring all of those linked to the execution, including the ones who sanctioned it, to justice to prove that no one is above the law in the fight against terrorism.
