The world became a whole lot safer yesterday, after the US took out Iraqi terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Israel eliminated his Palestinian counterpart, Jamal Abu Samhadana.

In both instances, solid intelligence backed by a healthy dose of airpower neutralized these two evil men, whose daily regimens consisted of trying to figure out how to murder as many innocent human beings as possible.

Samhadana was far less well-known in the West than al-Zarqawi, but that does not take away from his heinous record of bloodshed, which included attacks on Israeli soldiers and involvement in the October 2003 bombing of a US diplomatic convoy in Gaza.

Both these men deserved what they got, and got what they deserved, and we should all be grateful to the US and Israeli military forces for a job well done.

Not surprisingly, the Palestinians came out into the streets to protest – not just against the killing of Samhadana, but also of Zarqawi too.

The fact that they identify with that ruthless thug, and mourn his passing, should be proof enough that they neither warrant nor merit Western understanding or support.