Israel: damned if she does, damned if she doesn't

Here's an interesting take on the difference between world reaction to the fact that British security (not necessarily acting wrongly) accidently killed an innocent man, versus the insane scrutiny leveled at Israel's every effort to protect its citizens:

Israel has taken enormous care in its 'targeted killings' of 'ticking bombs,' almost never killing anyone in a case of mistaken identity. Contrary to the absolute lies told in the British media in recent days, the Israel Defense Forces have not instituted a shoot-to-kill policy, or trained the British to carry out one. For example, on Friday, at the very time British police were shooting the man in the Tube, the IDF caught and disarmed a terrorist from Fatah already inside Israel en route to carrying out a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv. Israeli forces didn't injure the terrorist at all in apprehending him, and disarming him of the five-kilogram explosives belt, packed with nails and metal shards, that he was wearing. And yet for taking the bare minimum steps necessary to save the lives of its citizens in recent years, Israel has been mercilessly berated by virtually the entire world. Had Israeli police shot dead an innocent foreigner on one of its buses or trains, confirming the kill with a barrage of bullets at close range, in a mistaken effort to thwart a bombing, the UN would probably have been sitting in emergency session by late afternoon to unanimously denounce the Jewish state. By evening, 12 hours had passed since the shooting, but the BBC still hadn't interviewed a grieving family, no one had called for British universities be boycotted, Chelsea and Arsenal soccer clubs hadn't been ordered to play their matches in Cyprus, and the Guardian hadn't yet called British policy against its Pakistani population "genocide." As for London Mayor Ken Livingstone, who is in overall control of transport in the city, including the train where the man was shot, and who strongly defended the shoot-to-kill policy as a legitimate way to prevent suicide bombings, he was not yet facing war crimes charges — as Livingstone himself has demanded Israeli political leaders should be.

There's more in the article, and it's worth reading, but this is the heart of it, and I have nothing to add.