You’d think the evidence left behind that enabled INTERPOL to put out red notices and photos of 11 suspects wanted in the killing of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai on Jan. 19 might make onlookers think the Mossad was off its game and thus dampen enthusiasm for the Israeli spy agency. Quite the opposite, The Times of London reports:

“The Israeli spy agency Mossad may be the target of international reproach since it allegedly killed the Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in a Dubai hotel this month, but at home emerging details of the operation have generated Mossad mania.

It has never been more popular in Israel, with stores selling out of Mossad memorabilia and its official website reporting a soaring number of visitors interested in applying to become agents. ‘Mossad has been restored to its glory days,’ said Ilan Mizrahi, a former deputy director of the agency, which is located in the affluent beach town of Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv.

Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement in Mr al-Mabhouh’s death — despite increasingly confident announcements by Dubai police that they have linked Mossad to the killing. Of the 28 suspects named, 11 share identities with Israelis who hold dual citizenship.

Governments across the world are lambasting Israel for what it considers a sloppy job done by agents who were caught on CCTV and may have left behind DNA. In Israel, the operation is being touted as a job well done. Israelis are discussing the killing with a wink, a nod, and pride in the agency, offically known as the Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations.

Opticians have reported a rise in sales of the horn-rimmed glasses in the style worn by 14 of the 26 suspects, T-shirts with Mossad logos are selling out at stores and the agency has experienced a flood of applicants.”

Authorities in Dubai said Sunday that al-Mabhouh was sedated before he was suffocated. In 1989, al-Mabhouh disguised himself as an Orthodox Jew to abduct and kill two Israeli soldiers; he admitted his involvement in a video broadcast on Al-Jazeera earlier this month. In recent years, al-Mabhouh, who had reportedly survived two previous assassination attempts, was suspected of being a key liaison between Hamas and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.