Israel remains silent over use of forged British passports in Dubai assassination

[stranger81]

Britain today declared its "outrage" at the use of forged British passports by a hit squad that killed a Hamas official in Dubai, and dispatched police investigators to the Gulf emirate to collect evidence.

The officers from the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) arrived in the United Arab Emirates as the investigation focused increasingly on Israel. The Dubai police chief declared that he was "99%, if not 100% certain" of Mossad's involvement, and called on Interpol to issue an arrest warrant for the Israeli spy chief, Meir Dagan. While SOCA is concentrating specifically on the misuse of British passports, it is understood that MI6 is conducting a broader, parallel probe into Israeli involvement.

Britain, Ireland and France stepped up diplomatic pressure on Israel, demanding explanations on the use of forged European passports by the assassins who targeted Mahmoud al-Mabhouh on 19 January.

However, the initial response from the Israeli envoys in London and Dublin was that they had nothing to say about the affair, bringing closer the prospect of a high-level diplomatic row. The Israeli embassy made no comment on its meeting at the French foreign ministry, which "expressed its deep concern about the malicious and fraudulent use of these French administrative documents."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/feb/18/dubai-assassination-forged-british-passports

[Ozymanithrax]

1. Yes, and "Three Palestinians named in Dubai assassination plot"

Three Palestinians named in Dubai assassination plot
Three Palestinian men arrested in connection to the Dubai assassination were named today, throwing more suspicion on Israel’s involvement in the killing.

Ahmad Hasnin, a Palestinian intelligence operative, and Anwar Shekhaiber, a Palestinian Authority official in Ramallah, were arrested in Amman and have been extradited to Dubai, Jordanian officials said.

A third man, named by Palestinian media as Nahro Massoud, a Hamas security operative, was arrested in Damascus.

All three were residents of the Gaza Strip until the Hamas takeover in June 2007 and a Hamas official in Gaza said that it was “likely” that they knew Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, the Hamas official who was killed in his Dubai hotel room on January 19.

Israel has long had a far-reaching network of Palestinian collaborators, which it regularly uses to collect intelligence for military operations. Israeli defence officials have, in the past, acknowledged that Israel’s security establishment depends on “turning” Palestinians into collaborators. Various methods, including blackmail, monetary compensation and threats are used to compel collaborators to work with Israel.

Interesting that Palastinians have now been arrested but Israel is still being blamed. It will be interesting to see where this case goes.

[Arrowhead2k1]

2. It's not hard to imagine that there are Palestinians who want to see Hamas gone.

They would be just pawns in this grand sheme. Israel will of couse take the blame though since it if it is a mossad operation, then it would have to have been approved from the very top of the Israeli government.

[stranger81]

3. Even assuming this is true, it points only to Palestinians collaborating

with an Israeli operation -- it doesn't absolve Israel of responsibility, or even suggest that Palestinian actors are primarily responsible.

But nice attempt to change the subject.

[Ozymanithrax]

4. The article assumes they were collaborating

But, we have a Palestinian government official and a Palestinian intelligence operative as well a Hamas Security operative. The other theory of this crime is that this was the result of feuding between Fatah and Hamas. So far, the only arrests point in that direction. But the government is still 99% sure that Mossad did it.

I am happy to await the ultimate outcome and the arrests of the people who comitted the assassination. I find it funny that three Palastinians are arrested and it throws suspicion on Israel in the same way that 18 Saudi's on 9/11 cast suspicion on Saddam Husain. I hope that this particular case is a bit more accurate than the case against Iraq.

[Arrowhead2k1]

5. If the Palestinians are capable of such a sophisticated operation all on their own then

Israel should be even more fucking worried. :rofl:

[Ozymanithrax]

6. So you are saying that Palasinians are just not intellectually capable of...

stealing identities, forging a passport, or performing complex and difiuclt operations that require considerable sophisticaiton and planning? I find that...distasteful.

[Arrowhead2k1]

18. lol, oh sure, try to turn this into a prejudice thing on my part.

That's not what I meant at all. The Palestinian territories simply don't have the resources, connections, and access to highly trained commandos who could pull off a Mossad style attack. They've never even come close to performing operations like this in the past. These techniques don't just come out of nowhere. If they did, Israel would have a potentially much deeper threat to deal with.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

9. Apparently there were a number of simple errors made which one would not expect from Mossad

A ruse perhaps, to cause doubt it was Mossad or maybe it was not Mossad but a 3rd party? Hard to tell. Still everyone is going with Mossad.

I agree its the most likely, but its not 99% based on what has been released so far.

[stranger81]

11. I see we have another subscriber to the theory that any operational errors pointing to Israeli

involvement, by definition, point away from Israeli involvement. It's an ingenious argument, really. Completely shuts down logical discussion.

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[stranger81]

17. When you've got more than ad hominems to support your claims, let me know. [n/t]

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[stranger81]

23. I'm not going to derail this thread any further by humoring your nasty personal attacks.

Enough said, Professor.

[Violet_Crumble]

14. But Mossad have cocked up things in the past...

What about the time they tried to assassinate that guy in Jordan, got caught doing it, and Israel had to supply the antidote?

What about the time two of their agents got caught travelling on false New Zealand passports and Israel had to apologise to try to save their diplomatic relationship with New Zealand?

I'm sure there's more than that, but Mossad have made some big blunders in the past, and I wouldn't be surprised if they've made more now. What I do agree with is yr last sentence that they're the most likely candidate. I doubt Israel would ever admit that it was Mossad agents, but I could be wrong...

[hack89]

24. Munich 72? nt

[stranger81]

8. You shouldn't find that any funnier than the people here who think evidence that Israel orchestrated

this hit only proves that Israel had nothing to do with it. And there is quite a lot of evidence that Israel orchestrated this assassination.

[Ozymanithrax]

10. Actually, absence of evdence doesn't prove Israel's innocence.

They have motive and tried at least once before to do it. It is even possible that they implicated Palastinains in order to take the heat off the Mossad.

Hamas and Fatah are not friends and they have killed each other operatives before. I'm just saying that the 99 percent if not 100 percent possiblity that Israel did it is not justified considering the evidence and arrests.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

13. Proving a negative is often impossible and getting beyond people's prejudices equally so.

No matter what Israel says it will be taken by some one out of context and warped into something else. Whether they did it or not, their best course is to remain silent.

I've read what is has been published to date. So far there is a lot of circumstantial and no direct evidence released publicly. I assume there is more to come.

While I too tend to believe it was Israeli backed, its a case of most likely, not 99%.

[timeforpeace]

7. Now why would the captured Palestinians try to implicate Israel? What a puzzler.

[shergald]

15. Can anyone tell how to contact administration.

For some unknown reason, I had a post deleted: "So where's the Palestinian Gandhi, Bono?"

I looked for moderator messages but there were none. Mystyfiying.

Thanks.

[Violet_Crumble]

16. Was it deleted from this forum? And did you post it as a new thread?

You could PM Lithos or UGRR who are the mods of this forum, I guess...

[shergald]

19. It apparently was. Not to be found.

What does PM mean and how do you do it?

[Violet_Crumble]

22. PM = private message...

See just to the right of my name at the top of this post? If you click on the envelope that's how you send a message to that person.

If you want to send a message to the mods for this forum, here's how you do it

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=moderators&forum=124

But reading the forum guidelines usually answers a lot of questions about what you can and can't start new threads with.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=124x21970


They're pretty boring now, but back in the old days that thread was kept unlocked and everyone got an opportunity to complain and bicker in there. I really miss it :)

[shergald]

20. Thanks again.

I found the admin email address under Help.