Israel's attack on the senior Hamas leadership in Qatar last Tuesday has predictably been condemned as a violation of Qatari sovereignty, and for allegedly escalating the Gaza conflict.

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I don't recall similar condemnations when the US, rightly, sent its forces into Pakistan after Osama bin Laden, or killed various ISIS leaders. In fact, killing terrorist leaders is generally regarded as justified, especially when they are still actively plotting attacks.

Yet when Israel conducts a very precisely targeted bombing raid on Hamas leaders, who bear responsibility for the October 7 atrocities together with hundreds of other terrorist outrages against Israeli civilians, including the September 8 attack on buses in Jerusalem which killed six innocents, that's apparently unacceptable.

Israel is accused of acting illegally, but given the Hamas leaders were still directing attacks against Israel, and Qatar was permitting this, Israel's action was a legitimate exercise of its right to self-defence.

The Israeli attack is also being described as a blow to hopes of a Gaza ceasefire, but perhaps the opposite is true, as Israel argues.

Not only have these Hamas leaders planned and facilitated mass murder with impunity from their luxurious Qatar hideaways, they have also prolonged Gaza's misery by refusing various ceasefire deals that Israel accepted. Clearly these Hamas leaders are more than happy to keep sacrificing their people in Gaza in return for PR victories, as long as they are safe in Qatar. Perhaps that will now change.

After all, Hamas' leaders in Doha haven't just hidden and schemed, they have prospered off terrorism and Palestinian misery, accumulating vast personal wealth. Former Hamas........

© Canberra Times