Israel's security cabinet met for several hours of intense discussions yesterday. Army Radio reported that no decision was made to change existing security policies, which basically confirmed the continuation of "targeted killings." The meeting was attended by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Foreign Affairs Minister Shimon Peres, Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, Finance Minister Silvan Shalom and Deputy Defense Minister Dalia Rabin-Pelossof.

"This is the way to prevent the escalation that everyone

"The only way to stop [suicide bombers] is to intercept those who send them." - Foreign Affairs Minister Shimon Peres

wants to avoid," Sharon spokesman Ra'anan Gissin said, referring to the targeting policy. "Every nation would do the same. It doesn't look nice, but it's a question of stopping them right there or suffering the consequences."

"Israel reserves the right to defend its citizens, just like the U.S.," Sharon told U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell in a phone call yesterday. Earlier in an interview with CNN, Powell said Israel's attack in Nablus was "too aggressive" and helped to escalate Middle East violence. The stronger-than-usual U.S. criticism, attributed unofficially by a State Department official to the fact that two of the victims were children, was matched by condemnations from European governments and United Nations spokesmen. Sharon spoke to other world leaders yesterday in attempts to explain Israel's policy of targeting terrorists before they commit attacks in order to save Israeli lives.

A statement released by the Prime Minister's Office stated, "Israel will continue to reserve its basic right to self-defense and to fulfill its obligation to protect the lives of its citizens." Media analysts believe the phrase "basic right to self-defense" is government doublespeak for the "targeted killing" policy. Other euphemisms being used to describe the military actions as anything but "assassination" include "liquidation," "active self-defense" and "interception."

"We have no assassination policy," Peres told Israeli Channel One television last night. "We have suicide bombers, and suicide bombers cannot be threatened by death. The only way to stop them is to intercept those who send them," Peres said.

Israeli Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Shaul Mofaz, who defended the Nablus strike, said that it probably would have been cancelled if it had been known that children were near the intended targets. Reports in the media suggested the possibility that terrorist leaders are using children as "human shields" and have gone underground in fear of additional Israeli attacks.

Limited opposition in Israel
There was little domestic criticism of the government's targeting policy in Israel. A poll conducted last week for Maariv showed that nearly 75% of Israelis either endorse current security policies, including the targeting of suspected terrorists, or call for stronger methods. A recent telephone survey conducted for the right-wing Makor Rishon weekly said 90% of Israelis support the targeting and killing of terrorists. The New York Times pointed out that the majority of Israeli newspaper editorials and columns published yesterday supported the Nablus strike.

"It's an ineffective and inefficient policy," insisted Naomi Chazan (Meretz). "It breeds more hatred and more terrorism instead of eliminating or even reducing it… If these people are guilty, they should be brought to trial, not assassinated."

Opposition leader Yossi Sarid (Meretz) doubted that the government policy could effectively repress Palestinian violence. "Perhaps Israel's citizens should be told the brutal truth," Sarid wrote yesterday in Yediot Aharonot. "Even when we assassinate a terrorist, we create with our very hands 10 new terrorists in his place."

Israeli human rights activists find government arguments unconvincing. Quoted in the Washington Post, B'Tselem Director of Research Yael Stein said, "In cases where there's immediate danger to life [assassinations] can be justified, but those cases are very rare, and the government is not even close to these very rare cases… The fact that the Minister of Defense comes on the radio and says they were responsible for a bomb or planning another bomb, this is not very convincing."

Government has difficulties explaining policies
Israel is having a difficult time explaining its policies and targets to the foreign media as well. Washington Post correspondent Lee Hockstader noted that a five-page summary of the alleged misdeeds of assassinated Hamas leaders Jamal Mansour and Jamal Salim, faxed to foreign correspondents Tuesday night, "provided no hard evidence to back up the [Israeli] government's assertions."

According to a report in today's Jerusalem Post, a press release sent by the coordinator of government activities in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip to foreign media outlets around the world was full of spelling mistakes and improper grammar. The release, sent on official Defense Ministry stationery, was titled, "The Palestinian authority is increasing in significant way the incitement actions [sic]." As the Post pointed out, the release misspelled the name of the city in which Tuesday's attack took place and "couldn't complete a sentence in English."

Relating to the document, Sharon spokesman Ra'anan Gissin said that the mistakes were regrettable and attributed them to a newly expanded spokesman's unit that was still being organized.

A statement released by the Foreign Affairs Ministry yesterday as background to the targeting of terrorists stated that in a time of armed conflict, individuals who instigate, carry out or organize terrorist attacks are considered "legitimate military targets."

"Israel must undertake preventive, precisely-targeted operations which would bring about a cessation of these clearly lethal threats," according to the statement. "Israel does not condone or take part in 'assassinations' or 'extra-judicial killings'… Israel makes every effort to avoid involvement of innocent civilians, taking action only in conditions where inaction by Israel would result in additional loss of innocent lives," the statement said.

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