Some men are born great

and others have greatness thrust upon them. This Guardian newspaper obituary tells us that Hamas’ late leader Ahmed Yassin fell into the latter category. It was his “moral purity” along with his “true sense of service” that Guardian writer David Hurst finds most impressive. Hirst sees Yassin as comparable to Nelson Mandela, but concedes that Mandela is the greater of the two.
Hat tip, Daily Ablution, which points us to a less idiosyncratic obituary from the Times of London. The Times ungraciously reminds us that the departed Yassin “was the spiritual and political leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas. At the turn of the millennium this organisation gained infamy as one of the most savage organisations in the Middle East, responsible for a wave of suicide bombings that led to the death of countless civilians.”