While India pandered

Islamic terrorists continue to attack soft targets.

Is India a weak link in what used to be called the global war on terror? That question, raised most dramatically by the horrific Mumbai attacks of 2008, resurfaced after Monday's bombing of an Israeli diplomat's car in New Delhi. Police suspect a motorcyclist planted the bomb, which exploded a stone's throw from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's heavily fortified home. An Israeli defense official's wife and three other people escaped with injuries, but the audacity of the attack, in what ought to be the safest square mile in the country, should send shivers down the spine of India's security establishment.

With tensions in the Middle East rising, international speculation dwells on the affiliation of the motorcycle-borne assailant in New Delhi. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed Iran, most likely acting through its terrorist proxy Hezbollah. The Iranians deny the charge, and Indian analysts point out that Tehran has little to gain by alienating its top oil importer and one of the few major countries skeptical of wide-ranging economic sanctions against the Islamic republic.

Regardless of who turns out to be behind the attack, Indians ought to ask whether their irresponsible political class is leaving the country less prepared than most to deal with terrorism. Exhibit A in this case is Law Minister Salman Khurshid. While campaigning for assembly elections in the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh earlier this month—where nearly one in five voters is Muslim—Mr. Khurshid implied that Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi teared up over photographs of Islamist terrorists slain in a 2008 shootout with police in Delhi.

The full test of this article is available via subscription to The Wall Street Journal. It will be posted to AEI.org on Monday, Feb. 20, 2012.