By Meredith Lee-Clark
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
BRUSSELS, Belgium – European Union foreign ministers released a statement on February 22, saying they have “strongly condemned” the use of forged European passports by the alleged assassins of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a Hamas commander, in Dubai in January 2010. While the statement made no reference to Israel, it is widely assumed that the Mossad, Israel’s secret intelligence service, was behind the killing.
Al-Mabhouh was murdered in his hotel room in Dubai on January 19. On February 15, Dubai police released closed-circuit video from the hotel that showed dramatic footage of the eleven suspected assassins, all with forged European passports—six British, three Irish, one French, and one German. It later emerged that the hit-squad had stolen the identities of innocent people, seven of whom have dual Israeli citizenship and currently live in Israel.
Israeli officials have neither confirmed nor denied their country’s involvement with the assassination. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman met with his counterparts at the European Union headquarters in Brussels after the E.U. statement was released. Michael Martin, the Irish Foreign Minister, told the press that Mr. Lieberman did not have any additional information on the assassination.
“He didn’t deny it,” said Mr. Martin, “but I don’t want that to be construed one way or the other. He said he didn’t have any information.”
On the Israeli Foreign Ministry website, a statement said that Mr. Lieberman told Mr. Martin that no report linked Israel with the assassination. The statement went on to say that if and when a report does so, beyond media reports, Israel would respond.
The incident has held ordinary Israelis to question the ethics of the Mossad. Israelis take pride in the organization’s stealth and ability to quietly take out what it believes are enemies of Israel, yet the use of Israeli citizens’ passports has thrown that pride into question. Many Israelis are immigrants from European countries and continue to hold passports from their countries of origin.
There are plenty of people who would have been willing to cooperate with that kind of a mission. So if they’re using these people’s identities unbeknownst to them, then it’s very problematic,” said Jean-Marc Liling, a Swiss-French human rights lawyer now living in Israel. “Using people’s identities without their consent is really intolerable.”
For more information, please see:
BBC News – EU Condemns Passport Use in Dubai Killing – 22 February 2010
The National (UAE) – Europe Condemns Stolen Identities Used in al Mabhouh Killing – 22 February 2010
New York Times – E.U. Decries Passport Use by Assassins – 22 February 2010
Christian Science Monitor – Israelis Ponder Mossad Ethics, Role in Dubai Hamas Assassination – 18 February 2010
