UK calls in Israeli ambassador as Dubai killing row escalates

[FarCenter]

Julian Borger - The Guardian, Thursday 18 February 2010

Britain last night fired the first shot in a potentially explosive diplomatic row with Israel by calling in the country's ambassador to explain the use of faked British passports by a hit squad who targeted a Hamas official in Dubai.

The Israeli ambassador has been summoned to the Foreign Office to "share information" about the assassins' use of identities stolen from six British citizens living in Israel, as part of the meticulously orchestrated assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.

Britain has stopped short of accusing Israel of involvement, but to signal its displeasure, the Foreign Office ignored an Israeli plea to keep the summons secret. "Relations were in the freezer before this. They are in the deep freeze now," an official told the Guardian.

Gordon Brown yesterday launched an investigation into the use of the fake passports, which will be led by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca). The British embassy in Tel Aviv is also contacting the British nationals affected in the plot, "and stands ready to provide them with the support that they need", the Foreign Office said in a statement last night.

"The British passport is an important part of being British and we have to make sure everything is done to protect it," Brown told LBC Radio yesterday.

<SNIP>

[aquart]

1. "British citizens living in Israel."

Well, if the Israelis did it, IT WASN'T TOO BRIGHT TO PICK PEOPLE LIVING IN ISRAEL.

[JDPriestly]

9. Yes. This is a kind of odd twist. It seems too obvious.

Of course, Israel now has to prove a negative -- that it did not do it. Israel seems the most likely suspect, but then whoever put this together was very smart -- too smart to make such an obvious mistake? Or just too arrogant to realize that was such a serious mistake?

I still don't understand how they decided the guy was murdered. I watched the videos, but it was unclear to me what the actual cause of death was. They said that the cause of death was first claimed to be a sudden rise in blood pressure, but they did not say what the cause really was. Was there violence? What really happened here?

In the videos, you see a lot of people running around and in several scenes they appear to put on wigs and change into various clothes which are characterized as disguises. Obviously fake passports were used. But what caused the victim's death? Was he actually assassinated or did he die of some other cause? Understandably, Dubai may have chosen not to release all the facts. Or -- I may have missed articles that included additional facts.

If this was an assassination, it was done by very professional people. While Israel would have a motive and the technical ability to commit a crime of this sort, it is not the only party that might do this. Interesting story to follow in any event. I'm not jumping to any conclusions, but then I try to never jump to conclusions with regard to stories like this one.

[azul]

2. Extrajudicial killings not the main issue?

The problem being the integrity of British passports? And that makes them so mad that they won't do the secret meeting thing?

[Behind the Aegis]

3. Israel should return the favor.

Summon the British ambassador and ask to "share information" as to why names of people living in Israel were used. It isn't to say the British government or any number of its secret agencies or fundamentalist anti-Israel groups could be involved.

[Electric Monk]

7. What? Where did you get any of that from in the article?

Or are you simply trying to deflect and distract?

[Behind the Aegis]

8. Did you read the article?

[Nothing Without Hope]

4. This one is going to get lots of unrecommends - I just brought it back up to +5

Lots -- too much, I believe -- of "sensitivity" to anything about Israel around here.

Good to see some support for the rule of law.

[Behind the Aegis]

5. LMAO!

[Electric Monk]

6. Link here, which you forgot to include

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/17/israeli-ambassador-summoned-dubai-murder