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August 10, 2001/Av 21, 5761, Vol. 53, No.44
Nuanced differences arise over 'targeted killings'
MATTHEW E. BERGER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
WASHINGTON - While the State Department condemns Israel's targeted killings of Palestinian militants, Israel is clutching to the more lenient approach of Vice President Dick Cheney.
Israel's advocates, meanwhile, are defending the policy by conjuring up images from World War II to show that the United States once acted in a very similar manner.
Speaking on "Fox Special Report" on Aug. 2, Cheney said he believes the policy of targeted killings could be justified, at least in Israeli eyes.
"If you've got an organization that has plotted or is plotting some kind of suicide bomber attack, for example, and they have evidence of who it is and where they're located, I think there's some justification in their trying to protect themselves by preempting," Cheney said.
His words were in sharp contrast to the official State Department line. For weeks, the diplomatic corps has condemned Israel's policy, saying it furthers - and even aggravates - the cycle of violence.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Cheney was trying to explain the Israeli perspective.
"What the vice president was reflecting on is how both parties see justification in the actions they take," Fleischer said Aug. 3. "It is the policy of the United States to oppose these killings."
Israeli officials in Washington received Cheney's comments warmly, saying they echoed what American officials have been saying privately.
"The tactic is working, and when we express it to the Americans, they understand it," an Israeli official said. "We're not asking them to endorse our strategy, but we think they understand it."
In the past week, several lawmakers have expressed support for Israel's policy. A leading Democrat in the House of Representatives said Aug. 3 that the United States acted similarly when it tried to assassinate terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.
"It is the ultimate hypocrisy for anyone, our State Department or anyone else, to pretend to have the moral superiority in the face of tragic episodes where innocent children get killed," said Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), noting that the United States killed thousands of innocent children when it launched atomic bombs on Japan in World War II.
American politicians justified the atomic attacks by saying they brought the war to an early end, thereby saving lives.
Israeli officials believe their policy of targeted killings serves the United States' interests, saying it prevents an escalation of violence by taking terrorists planning major attacks.
Opinion is split, however, over whether the targeted killings reduce violence or, in fact, escalate it.
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