Much of the blame for the decision to go after Yassin has been directed at Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, as if he were some demented outlaw. But Israel's Cabinet approved the decision, and Israelis themselves overwhelmingly support the action. According to a poll published in the daily newspaper Yediot Ahronot, 60 percent of Israelis approved of Yassin's killing. And why not? Yassin was no "spiritual leader," the term almost universally used to describe him in the press worldwide. His spiritual direction amounted to nothing more than promising gullible young Palestinians a place in paradise if they would shed the blood of Jews.
Israel cannot end the terrorism directed at it by killing one man, any more than we can prevent future attacks on the United States by killing Osama bin Laden. But Israel was right to kill Yassin, just as we would be right to kill Osama if we were lucky enough to catch him in our crosshairs. The Israelis have already made clear that Yassin is not their only target.
Palestinian terrorists have launched war against Israel. They have promised to annihilate Israel and drive its people into the sea. Israel has no choice but to take these terrorists at their word and to hunt them down and kill them. To expect anything else of Israel would not only be hypocritical, but would be to condemn its people to certain extinction.
George W. Bush told the world that "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists." It's time he took his own advice and stood with Israel in its fight to defeat the terrorists one by one.