You bring up a good point. It still amazes me however, that the Israelies continue to act mostly in a reactive/defensive posture. Why they let Arafat live is beyond me. They should also be actively going after Saddam.
What I would like to see is a proactive stance against declared enemies of Isreal. I was encouraged to see that the Mossad has recently been given the green light to go after enemies on foreign soil. That is a major step in the right direction.
The answer to that is obvious. Better a enemy you can identify and control than one who is secret that you can't influence.