CAPTURE OF SHALIT KIDNAPPER "LIKE A SCENE OUT OF A HOLLYWOOD ACTION MOVIE"

TAB tries to keep a relatively close watch on how many of Gilad Shalit's kidnappers have been brought to justice. But we've never had the opportunity to post about one who was arrested in a way so objectively full of awesome:

It sounds almost like a scene out of a Hollywood action movie. Soldiers disguised as Hamas militiamen abduct a senior Hamas terrorist who stops in the middle of a road in southern Gaza after an "old man" leaning on a cane collapses in front of his car. If the Palestinian reports are true, then elite Israeli forces penetrated deep into the heart of Rafah late Friday night to nab Mohawah al-Qadi, a senior member of Hamas's armed wing and a commander in the Executive Force believed to be connected to last year's kidnapping of Cpl. Gilad Schalit. According to the Palestinian reports, Qadi was abducted by Israeli forces and then taken to the abandoned Dahiniye Airport, where he was picked up by an IAF helicopter and transported into Israel.

You're not going to want to hear this - but Barak has gotten a pretty good start on restoring the IDF's credibility. He'll be genuinely put to the test over the next few weeks as Hezbollah and Syria attempt to take advantage of what will almost certainly be an IDF ground operation in the Gaza Strip. If he handles the next month well, he'll post a legitimate electoral threat to Netanyahu and the Likud.

[Cross-posted to Mere Rhetoric]