The Difference Between Hamas And The Provos

As I write this a day-long, multi-pronged assault by air, sea and land is still ongoing in the skies, waterfronts and streets of Israel, launched with what appears to be complete and total secrecy and surprise and in the evident absence of intelligence leaks to Israel by the Islamic group Hamas. The violence today shows that the much vaunted Israeli intelligence agencies, and their American and European allies, were totally in the dark about Hamas’ plans.

And as I write this we are also awaiting the publication the next few days or so of a report from a retired British police chief centred on the story of how the IRA was effectively brought to its knees thanks to the efforts of a single, well-placed IRA agent who worked for the British intelligence apparatus in Northern Ireland, and through whose activity goodness knows how many other potential converts to the British cause were generated. The IRA and its weapons are gone and its political representatives recently accepted invitations to the coronation of a British monarch.