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Ireland expels Israeli diplomat over Hamas assassination

15 June 2010 19:53 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Ireland’s decision to eject the unidentified diplomat came after two official investigations concluded that "an Israeli government agency" had forged Irish passports during the operation to kill Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in his hotel room in Dubai six months ago, APA reports quoting telegraph.co.uk website.
According to police in the emirate, agents of the Israeli spy agency Mossad used the stolen identities of 32 Westerners to travel to Dubai to carry out the assassination. At least 12 British and eight Irish passports were used in the operation, with the rest coming from France, Australia and Germany.
In line with its policy on intelligence matters, Israel has declined to comment on whether it played a role in Mabhouh’s death.
Ever since Britain expelled the Mossad station chief accredited to its embassy in London in March, Israel has been desperate to end the crisis, but with little success.
Reigniting the scandal, Australia followed Britain’s lead last month with an expulsion of its own.
Fearing further damage to its increasingly battered international reputation, Israel is understood to have lobbied Ireland not to follow suit.
But Micheal Martin, the Irish foreign minister, said he had been left with no choice but to take action.
"The misuse of Irish passports by a state with which Ireland enjoys friendly, if sometimes frank, bilateral relations is clearly unacceptable and requires a firm response," he said.
With France and Germany yet to make their response, there will be concerns in Israel that the assassination scandal could become still more protracted.
Over the weekend it emerged that Germany, Israel’s closest European ally, had requested the extradition of a suspected Mossad officer arrested in Poland in connection with the Dubai assassination. German prosecutors say Uri Brodsky is suspected of being involved in illegally obtaining a German passport.
The revival of the Dubai assassination comes as Israel fights a rearguard action against increasingly hostile world opinion after nine pro-Palestinian activists were killed during an Israeli raid on an international aid flotilla attempting to break the blockade of Gaza on May 31st.