“Mossad Assassinates Hamas Founder!”

So says Hamas in yesterday’s (January 29, 2010) headlines. In one form or another, this headline was carried in respected western newspapers like the New York Times, the Times of London, the Washington Post and hundreds of others.

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Those mainstream (and lesser) media should certainly have more resources for researching articles than a private individual does, yet none of them apparently found this article that I did in the Ma’an News Agency web site. It makes the Hamas claims that Israel assassinated Mahmoud al-Mabhuh/Mabhouh somewhat questionable… unless they want to claim that it was a “Zionist cancer” that killed him.

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Hamas brigades founder dies in exile

Published Wednesday 20/01/2010 (updated) 21/01/2010 12:45

Gaza- Ma’an – Hamas’ armed wings the Al-Qassam Brigades announced the death of its co-founder in exile Mahmoud Al-Mabhuh died of terminal cancer in a hospital in the UAE on Wednesday.

The Al-Qassam leader, a refugee living the Jabalia Refugee Camp until he left Gaza for the UAE, was behind a mission that successfully captured two Israeli soldiers, a statement from the brigades said.

“Al-Mabhuh was captured two Israeli soldiers, Elan Sa’dun and Avi Sbortas who were captured at the in the early 1990s by Al-Qassam fighters, the soldiers were killed in military action following their capture,” the statement said.

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I’ve no doubt that as soon as Hamas (or Ma’an itself) realizes that this article is still up, they’ll take it down as quick as they can. Until they do, it’s proof that Hamas lies. No matter which version of his death is true, one of the stories is a lie. It should be easy enough to find hospital records confirming his hospitalization and treatment for cancer—there are just too many records for any patient in a hospital to hide them all: admission forms, diagnoses, imaging, administration of controlled medication, other treatments and payment, to name just a few.

Out of almost 16,000 hits for “Mabhouh” and another 7,500 for “Mabhuh”, there are only a few references to the initial Ma’an story, mostly by bloggers who picked it up. Is the media so wrapped up in printing sensational news that they can’t be bothered to make a simple Internet search the way I did to confirm their facts?

Given the Palestinian penchant for lying, particularly about their “casualties from the occupation”, where they regularly include suicide bombers, “work accidents” to bomb-makers killed by their own mistakes (and innocent bystanders killed by these mistakes) and even the victims of heart attacks and other natural causes, I’d have to accept the initial story as the true one and the “assassination” as a fabrication to whip up popular support.

Is Hamas so desperate to garner support that they have to resort to a lie that even ordinary Palestinians can disprove with no trouble?