Backspin also wondered how many other news outlets noted the red license plates.

Arutz-7 did.
Ha'aretz did too:

The two men were travelling in a car with a red Palestinian Authority security licence plate, witnesses said.

Ynet didn't report on the license plates but on Madhoun's employment:

Al-Madhoun was the commander of the “Nabil Massoud Brigades,” one of the more active terror cells of the Fatah’s al-Aqsa Brigades. Abu-Qara was a notable Hamas terror leader, but al-Madhoun is the more senior target and was involved in Qassam rocket attacks in Sderot, including the strikes of recent days.

Madhoun was also employed by the Palestinian Authority’s preventive security force and led the al-Aqsa Brigades’ Islamic branch, which is closely associated with Hamas. According to a Fatah member, most attacks carried out by al-Madhoun’s men were financed by Hamas.

Though the Jerusalem Post puts his "official" job in the past:

Madhoun had served in the PA's Preventive Security Service and, according to the army, some of his activities were funded by Hamas.

I'd love to feel sorry of Saeb Erekat as frustrated as he sounds in this report:

"If Abu Mazen takes the strategic decision which he still refuses to take and acts against the infrastructure of terror... (our activity) in Gaza will end the same day," Shalom said, referring to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Abbas, who has urged Israel to resume peace negotiations, has resisted U.S. and Israeli calls to disarm gunmen, citing fears of civil war.

Israel has said talks cannot restart until he acts against militants in accordance with a U.S.-backed peace "road map," whose terms it also has not met fully.

"SMEAR CAMPAIGN"

Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat, commenting on Shalom's remarks, accused Israel of a waging a "smear campaign aimed at continuing unilateral moves and dictation on the ground, rather than negotiations."

The Palestinian Authority, he told Reuters, "was establishing the rule of law" and preparing for a parliamentary election due in January.

Of course it's hard to have sympathy for such arguments as the Washington Post reports:

The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades is an armed wing of Fatah, the secular party that fills out the bureaucratic ranks of the Palestinian Authority. Israeli officials had asked Palestinian officials on several occasions to arrest Madoun, whom they described as a prolific recruiter of suicide bombers who have carried out at least three attacks, killing more than a dozen Israelis.

But Madoun was never detained. Israeli officials have held his case up as evidence that the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, is not serious about cracking down on the armed groups as called for in the U.S.-backed peace plan known as the "road map."

Actually Israel doesn't have to hold anything up, the Palestinian Authority failure to abide by the most basic of its obligations is in the category of res ipsa loquitur - "the thing speaks for itself."

Abbas and his mouthpiece Erekat can't cry foul as they continue the well documented tradition of Yasser Arafat and talk about their efforts while doing nothing to fight terror.

The Washington Post didn't mention the license plates, but the New York Times did, citing the Reuters report.
Other on this "Red Plate Special" are Elder of Ziyon, Meryl Yourish and IRIS.

Technorati Tags: terror, Israel.

Crossposted on Israpundit and Soccer Dad.