MIDDLE EAST

By LISA BEYER/JERUSALEM

Prime Minister BENJAMIN NETANYAHU is under heavy criticism in Israel for sending Mossad agents on a failed attempt to kill a Hamas leader, KHALED MESHAL, on a commercial street in the Jordanian capital of Amman, prompting KING HUSSEIN to threaten to sever relations. Answering the charges of recklessness, an Israeli official says that precisely to avoid embarrassing the King, Mossad chose to spray a toxin into Meshal's ear. Says the source: "The decision to act was taken based on the 100% success rate of this method, which left no fingerprints whatsoever. If they had done it in the right way, no one would have noticed." The toxin was based on the drug fentanyl, a widely used anesthetic that can be absorbed through the skin and is lethal in large doses.

--By Lisa Beyer/Jerusalem