From an editorial in today’s Daily Telegraph:
“Whatever Yassin’s death was meant to achieve, its symbolism is disastrous for Israel. Did Mr Sharon and his advisers consider how the spectacle of helicopter gunships rocketing an old man in a wheelchair outside his mosque would appear to the world? Did they intend to turn this merchant of death into a victim – the Palestinian equivalent of Leon Klinghoffer? Despite intensive efforts to improve Israel’s image abroad, and despite sympathy for victims of suicide bombings (most recently in Ashdod), the Jewish state now looks more isolated than ever. Like Napoleon’s decision to execute the Duc d’Enghien, which transformed his image from that of a liberator into that of a tyrant, Sharon’s decision to execute Yassin is worse than a crime: it is a blunder.”
That’s well put. The US needs to be saying the same.