By Edmund Sanders, Los Angeles Times
JERUSALEM – Israel has seldom shied away from attacking its enemies – even if it takes years, even on foreign soil, even if it sours relations with allies.
Israeli citizens for the most part have supported such policies and cheered its internationally respected spy agency, Mossad, which obtained legendary status after hunting down and killing the terrorists responsible for the murder of Israeli athletes during the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Now Mossad may be testing the limits of that popularity amid allegations that it used Israeli citizens as pawns in the January assassination of an alleged Hamas arms dealer in a Dubai hotel.
Most Israelis applauded the killing of Mahmoud Mabhouh, who was accused of smuggling arms from Iran and killing two Israeli soldiers in the 1980s. But at least seven Israelis awoke this week to find their names on a most-wanted poster released by police in Dubai who are investigating the hit.