Hamas in Charge

Editorial
Wall Street Journal - April 22, 2006

Twenty-nine-year-old David Shaulov was among the nine murdered victims of Monday's suicide bombing in Tel Aviv. His wife, Varda, is nine months pregnant with their third child. Another victim, Marcelle Cohen, 75, a French citizen, was on a Passover visit with Israeli relatives. Then there was Binyamin Hafuta, 47, the security guard who blocked suicide bomber Sami Hamad from entering the crowded falafel restaurant that was the target, thereby saving possibly a dozen lives.

The bombing was only the third such attack this year. That's a testament to Israel's counterterrorism prowess and to its security barrier, which the U.N.'s International Court of Justice has deemed "contrary to international law." Remind us of that ruling the next time Secretary-General Kofi Annan speaks of the U.N.'s "unique legitimacy."

The relative paucity of terrorist atrocities is not a testament to Palestinian restraint. The Hamas-led government of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh defended the bombing as a legitimate act of Palestinian self-defense. When President Mahmoud Abbas described the bombing as "despicable," masked Palestinian gunmen held a press conference in Gaza to demand his apology.