Dirty deeds

THE butler did do it. In the classic movie Murder on the Orient Express the butler, played by the oleaginous John Gielgud, did the dirty deed.

THE butler did do it. In the classic movie Murder on the Orient Express the butler, played by the oleaginous John Gielgud, did the dirty deed.

But then, so did everyone else. The entire trainload of characters, excluding only Hercule Poirot, committed one and the same murder. And in the end we’re entirely sympathetic. The victim was a bounder and a cad - and all the murderers were such nice, put-upon people.

Now, what does that remind you of? Yes, a more recent plot, as told in the whodunnit Dead in Dubai - by Israel’s Mossad, not Agatha Christie. You don’t need a Poirot to point a finger at the guilty party. There were dozens of them, all caught on security video in a five-star hotel. All smiling for the cameras and waving their fake passports.

And as far as Western governments are concerned it’s those passports that are the crime. The murder? That’s shrugged off. After all, he was a Hamas commander and, as such, deserved to die. Pinching other people’s identities is a no-no, but not suffocating a drugged victim with a pillow. We’re back on the Orient Express. The dead bloke’s guilty. The murderers (nearly 30 of them) are innocent. Except of possessing naughty passports.

Remember the Entebbe Raid in 1976? The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijacked an Air France flight and held Israeli passengers hostage, so Tel Aviv ordered a commando raid on the Ugandan airport. One commando was killed - Benjamin Netanyahu’s brother, as it happens - along with 45 of Idi Amin’s troops. The world applauded. Forget the legalities. It had all the chutzpah of the Six-Day War. Hollywood made two film versions.

And there wasn’t much argument about Mossad gate-crashing Argentina to kidnap Adolf Eichmann, one of the 20th century’s greatest monsters. Yes, umpteen international laws were broken - and you can bet there were a few fake passports. But once again the world applauded. I know I did.

But 50 years later, when the only superpower in the Middle East continues to assassinate people wherever and whenever it chooses? The assassination policy should be what we’re discussing, not a few dodgy passports.

Of course the US does it - or tries it - all the time: those missiles aimed at Taliban or al-Qa’ida heavies in caves in Afghanistan, not to mention “regime change” tactics involving full-scale invasion of foreign countries. But Hamas? To brand it simply a terrorist outfit and to try knocking off its leadership one by one? Hamas is seen very differently in the Middle East. That’s why it won the elections in Gaza - and much respect in the region.

We’re one of a score of countries that goes along with Israel in branding Hamas’ military wing as terrorist - and Israel has been on the receiving end of many a Hamas rocket. But wiser counsel suggests the need for negotiation rather than assassination. In any case, it’s unlikely to be efficacious. Assassinations aid Hamas’ recruitment. They lead to promotions, not surrender.

Israel makes no apologies for weaponry ranging from WMDs (a fully-fledged nuclear capacity) to hypodermics and pillows used for smothering. Entebbe? Argentina? London? Dubai? Act first, argue about international law later. Israel will not go gently into any dark night - as many Israelis believe Europe’s Jews did during the Holocaust. But however deep the nation’s fears, Israel must scale back the endlessly escalating violence. Ceasing the practice of killing people in hotel rooms could be a good start.