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Government denies tip-off over Hamas Dubai killing as Tories demand answers
Paul Waugh, Deputy Political Editor19 Feb 2010
The row over the assassination of a Hamas military leader in Dubai took a dramatic new twist today amid claims that the Government was told about the killing before it took place.
The allegation, strongly denied by the Foreign Office, was published in a newspaper report which said that the tip-off was given by a serving member of the Israeli intelligence service Mossad.
He is alleged to have given a warning that an unnamed target was about to be killed and that “a situation” might blow up because those conducting the operation would be carrying UK passports.
Shadow foreign secretary William Hague said he wanted "fuller" answers about when the Foreign Office was aware that fake British passports had been used.
Red notices have been issued via Interpol in the hunt for 11 people allegedly involved in the hit, which was linked to the Israeli secret service Mossad.
Yesterday Mr Hague told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that reports in the Gulf suggested British ministers may have been alerted by Dubai authorities last month, despite claims that they were informed just hours before the news emerged publicly.
"We have had 13 years of the current government and believing at face value immediately everything they say has not been borne out by experience," he said.
"Ministers have been known to suggest that they only knew about something at the last moment that they had known about for some time.
"I'm not suggesting complicity with Israel, I simply say there are news reports in the Gulf that this may have been known about by the British government or other governments at an earlier stage."
David Miliband branded the abuse of ID documents "outrageous" and demanded that Tel Aviv co-operate fully with the UK's investigation.
But after being called in to discuss the situation with officials in London yesterday, Israel's ambassador Ron Prosor flatly denied there was any "additional information" to give.
Tel Aviv's ambassador to Ireland, Zion Evrony, delivered a similarly blank message after an hour of discussions with diplomat David Cooney in Dublin.
Dubai police have revealed that cloned passports belonging to six British Israelis and five Irish citizens were used by a hit squad who allegedly killed Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in the Gulf state last month.
Senior officers say they are "99% certain" that Mossad was behind the murder. Tel Aviv has refused to confirm or deny the link.
Mr Miliband told reporters he wanted to give Israel "every opportunity to share with us what it knows about this incident".
"We hope and expect that they will co-operate fully with the investigation that has been launched by the Prime Minister and will be undertaken by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca)," he said.
Speaking on a visit to the North East, Gordon Brown said: "We have got to know what happened to British passports - it's as simple as that. It's an investigation that has got to take place before any conclusions are drawn."
It is believed the Hamas commander was in Dubai to buy weapons for the militant Palestinian movement when he was killed in a luxury hotel room on January 19.
Dubai police chief General Dahi Khalfan said he was 99% sure Israel was involved. He told the Gulf News: "All elements strongly indicate the involvement of the Mossad."
Soca has confirmed photographs and signatures on the passports used in Dubai do not match those on passports issued by the UK.
Reader views (31)
Mossad would never let it's operations in another country be known to the UK. Give them more credit than that. It would be like telling the world, The UKs intelligence community is a sieve. It would have been out in 24 hours. If the UK Government knew about this killing beforehand, it proves it wasn't Mossad, arguably the most secretive and effective intelligence organization in world
- Bernard Ex Pat, Myrtle Beach SC USA, 22/02/2010 07:45
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Ces, London
There is no comparison between killing potential bombers, who were believed to be ready to detonate a planted device which would have killed and maimed all in the surrounding area, such as happened to the IRA terrorist in Gibraltar, and killing a terrorist in his hotel room who was not a threat to anyone at that point.
Can you imagine the outrage if we had murdered Gerry Adams or Martin McGuiness in their hotel rooms?
- James J, London, 21/02/2010 13:40
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"Whats worrying to me is how our country is being hijacked by the pro-israeli lobby and destroying our way of life."
Well I'm afraid to me it's the pro-Arab lobby which has *already* virtually destroyed our way of life. Look around...
We are under attack (9/11, 7/7, Christmas/Detroit, etc, etc) - not as constantly as Israel is being attacked, but the enemy is the same, and anyone pretending they are not is either deluding themselves or dishonest. Israel is in the front line combatting those who wish to kill *anyone* in the West. Their enemies are our enemies.
- Nick, paris, france, 20/02/2010 22:49
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Well said Alan Rex!
- Caroline, londn, 19/02/2010 16:52
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The IDF and Mossad are just as bad as Hammas, Al-queda etc...
they all kill, maim and imprison innocent Men, women and children. destroy the futures of a whole generation and then tell us how righteous they are. the same criteria that defines Hizbullah etc.. as terrorists, if applied to Israel would define Israel as a terrorist State. so lets not pretend one's better than the other.
- Amir, London, 19/02/2010 16:19
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ae we asking why dubai allowed this mass murdering terror chief into Dubai as a representative of a proscribed terror group to buy illegal weapons ?
Of course not! maybe that's why Dubai are creating such a fuss - to disguise their support of terrorists!
- Tony, london, uk, 19/02/2010 15:29
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The guy's dead, booo hoo hoo!
No loss anyway so why the big debate.
- Jj, London, 19/02/2010 15:15
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Here we go again, no one is ever allowed to critice Israel. Even respected moderate jews who critices Israel like Judge Goldstone and J Street are now accused of being anti-semitic. Its getting beyond ridiculous and the libel laws should be toughened up to prevent this. The pattern is becoming obvious, if an isreali supporter loses the argument (When Isreal does so much wrong so often its almost impossible to justify) they will cry racism and throw the cheap accusation.
Even more baloney about all citizens in Israel having equal rights. Its an apartheid state where those in the west bank and gaza are denied the right to vote, access to water, roads and movements based on whether you are christain and muslim whereas 500,000 extremist settler jews have those rights. If Israel was a democracy it wouldnt be an aparthied state. Just because South Africa gave rights to white south africans in the 1980s didnt make it a democracy. I dare Israel to give the vote to all the palestinians, then I will defend Israel. Give up apartheid or leave the occupied territories.
Using one witness to the UNHRC will not wash when the overwhelming evidence and conclusions highlighting the war crimes that were committed. Just because war crimes were committed in the past does not justify them now.
- Alan Rex, London, England, 19/02/2010 14:48
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Mossad, MI6, the CIA, the ISI in Pakistan, the FSB etc etc ate interconnected and intertwined at a very deep level. It is inconceivable that our Jewish foreign secretary did not know of this extra-judicial murder in advance.
- Conspiracy Factualist, London UK, 19/02/2010 14:18
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The comments here simply show that any excuse will bring anti-semites out of the closets. The bad joke is the claim that criticism of Israel is not antisemitism when we all know that in virtually every case it is.
One of the definitions of anti-semitism is to hold Jews to a different standard then would be applied to anyone else.
So, despite the fact that MI6 did it's own assassination dirty work in the past (remember the SAS and Death on the Rock anyone) the government and the spineless wet Tories can bluster on about it being outrageous. The same way that they condemned it when Israel took out Saddam's nuclear reactor in 1982. We would here the same yells of outrage if Israel took out Bin Laden tomorrow the same way.
As for the inaccuracies below: Israel is a democracy wherein all its citizens -both Jews and Arabs - have more rights than in any of the other 20 Arab states that have the free world by the short and curlies due to their oil wealth.
As for the nonsense about Gaza below from the Israel-haters, the Israeli army “did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare,” according to Richard Kemp, the former commander of British forces in Afghanistan in a report to the U.N. Human Rights Council.
- Ces, london, 19/02/2010 13:55
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Hey, Alan Rex, did I ever read that the Brits and Yanks
advised the citizens of Dresden and other popular Nazi cities to evacuate prior to being bombed?
- David Goldstone, London, 19/02/2010 13:41
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Why the outcry - - - this was not an innocent man that was removed from society, but a brutal cold blooded murderer of men women and young children. Its about time that Western Governments stopped their whinging, especially Miliband - the man that only a few scant months ago voiced support for terrorism - and maybe considered following suit with the removal of criminal terrorist murderers of all hues from our society. As usual, we also now see the Conservatives jumping on the bandwagon with their spoutings against this action. I used to think more of them, but they are no better than the wishy washy liberal Party. Shame on them.
- Eoin Mcgreeghan, Derry, NI, 19/02/2010 13:33
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I'd like to know how would all the talkbackers saying how good it is that Mossad murdered a terrorist if PA freedom fighters used UK passports to murder israelis war criminals?
- Ezra, UK, 19/02/2010 13:30
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Well, there you go again. The fact is the Israelis did actually send warnings before they attacked Gaza, much like the British Army is doing in Afghanistan. And unlike Hamas which just fired off 8,000 rockets without ANY wanring at all. A British officer actually remarked that this was unprecedented. But since Hamas, like the Taliban, love to use women and children as Human Shields, they were not allowed to go away from the targets. I am not condoning the Stern Gang, nor belittling the British Army, but haterd towards the British came after the Jews fought alongside them against the Nazis and their mainly Arab allies, and then found themselves being marched into refugee camps. It can cause some bitterness. I am glad you hate injustice and not Jews. let's focus now on why millions of dead Africans in Congo and Darfur have been ignored for so long in the UN and EU and so much time is spent debating Israelis killing one Hamas arms dealer.
- Stephen Rothbart, Prague, Czech Republic, 19/02/2010 13:22
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@Stephen
Thats so kind of these stern 'exremists' to warn the british army they were going to blow them up. Just like Israel warned the women and children in Gaza they were to be slaughtered? (of course they couldnt leave as Gaza is a prison, no way out by land, sea or air)
No I dont hate Israel. I hate apartheid and injustice and criminals. Hence my dislike for Israel. If it became a decent country or even a democracy (Giving 1 in 5 Palestinians a vote doesnt make it a democracy.) The USA gives all the native americans a vote, so does Canada, so does Australia for the aboriginis etc. As for the anti-semite argument, thats pretty outrageous but in keeping with how extreme Israel and its supporters have become.
- Alan Rex, London, England, 19/02/2010 12:54
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Alex Rex, the brave British soldiers were herding Jews fresh out of European death camps into British concentration camps, under orders from the anti-Zionist Prime Minister Bevan, who was appeasing the Arab block opposed to the Balfour Declaration. As for King David incident, this was carried out by Stern Gang members (Israel did not exist yet) against the orders of Hagganah, the main Jewish fighting force which later became the present IDF. Stern gang members despite being extremists, did actually send the British Army a warning to evacuate the hotel, which was serving as British Army HQ, but it was ignored, and many Jews also died in the resulting incident. I realize you hate Israel, and think we Jews rule the world (if only - then we would not have perished in our millions) but please try to get your facts right before going off on your rants.
- Stephen Rothbart, Prague, Czech Republic, 19/02/2010 12:25
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"David Miliband branded the abuse of ID documents 'outrageous' .."
'I concur, so why has Banana Boy and bent Labour been giving away passports by the hundreds of thousands to anybody who simply asks for one?'
- Frank, Home Counties, England.
Absolutely! For all we know, these passports could have been genuine, because open-door NuLiebour haven't got a clue who they've given passports or NI numbers to.
- M Thatcher, Retirement, unfortunately., 19/02/2010 12:21
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Interesting how Thatcher who had real guts and threw the murderous Mossad off our streets but Brown lacks the guts to throw the Israelis out.
Those who claim Mossad are so good that they are untraceable need to check their facts. Mossad has a history of killing innocent mistakenly people and of being caught (in Norway, Oslo, London, Germany.. the list could go on).
Fact - Israelis have killed more Brits (Our brave solders in their bombing of the King David hotel) than Hamas. Whats worrying to me is how our country is being hijacked by the pro-israeli lobby and destroying our way of life.
- Alan Rex, London, England, 19/02/2010 11:59
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I see Frank is doing his best to divert attention away from the fact that 60 leading economists back Alistair Darlings economic policies. What have you got to say about that Frankie?
Of course even his distraction is misinformed at best and a pack of lies at worse. different day, same old Tory lies.
- Kerry, Purley, 19/02/2010 11:49
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Cameron is jumping on the bandwagon to try to discredit Brown, but he is joining Hague in also looking like another anti-Israel hack. In case Cameron has not noticed, most people don't care about this, except the usual anti-Israeli mob. Cameron's country has its soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan right now fighting the same kind of terrorists that Israelis fight every day. Instead of sending in an army where our guys are getting killed and where innocent civilians are also being killed or made homeless, a hit, probably organized between Mossad and the PLA against a top Hamas leader, took out the man and left no innocent bystander hurt. If this is the best Cameron can do when people want to know about how jobs are gong to be created and how the Tories will ensure that the UK is not going to go the same way as Ireland and Greece, then perhaps he is the wrong guy to be PM after all.
- Stephen Rothbart, Prague, Czech Republic, 19/02/2010 11:21
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God help us all if this bunch of Tory naive opportunists ever do come to power,i suppose Cameron and Willie fizz will have mi6 & mi5 going out on missions with genuine British pass ports and carrying placards proclaiming genuine British spies carrying a genuine British pass ports!This bunch of twits would be funny if they were not so pathetic.
- Kev, London uk, 19/02/2010 10:58
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Cameron = Blair
I hate Brown but fear Cameron as much. He jumps on any trendy/popular bandwaggon out there. Creepy!
God help this country. If ever we needed a strong leader with a backbone it is now.
- Bill, London, 19/02/2010 10:17
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"Tories demand answers on 'Mossad' hit squad's fake passports"
Naah,The tories want shooting!
- Steve, Brentford, 19/02/2010 10:10
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So when the British Secret Service conduct their covert missions abroad, i suppose they are all travelling on their genuine British passports are they?
Zzzz... if only the Tories knew when to keep their mouths shut. This whole story is a political hot-potato.
- Pb, London, UK, 19/02/2010 10:00
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"Banana Boy and bent Labour " You sound very like a Tory, Frank. Why do you even think you can blame the Labour Govt. for a theft of identities? When the Vonservatives finally tell us their policies they will begin to assume an identity.
- Keith Price, Luton, Emgland, 19/02/2010 09:52
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Any one who is aware of the murky activities in the region will know this is not a Mossad hit. This is a set up by the Iranians as part of a hidden war against the Arab monarchies, the Sunni Muslims, Israel, the West and in particular, the "Little Satan" - the UK.
No one has yet asked why Mossad would ineptly use the identities of their own citizens - leading a direct trail back to them. Or why this mass murdering terror chief was even allowed into Dubai as a representative of a proscribed terror group to buy illegal weapons (not children's food and toys for the Gazan kids). Or that Iranians were due to meet him. Or that two Palestinians were involved and under arrest.
The "human rights for terrorists" crowd have been quick to fall into the Iranian trap and condemn Israel as usual. We all went to war against Iraq because of an Iranian double agent and at a stroke we angered the Muslim world and removed the biggest regional threat to the Iranian thugocracy.
It's a spoiler in advance of a bigger test for Obama & the West. Don't be fooled.
- Ricky, Hackney, London, 19/02/2010 09:41
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I agree with Clifftop. Cameron should stop being such a self-publicist and convince us that he will fix the economy. Focus, Dave, focus!
- D. Miner, London, UK, 19/02/2010 09:37
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I'm sure the Government of Israel is about as worried by a 'tough response' from the UK about the Dubai false-passport affair as a swipe from a tabby cat. They will continue to do what they want, breaking one international law after another, secure in the knowledge that the UK is 'controlled' by Israeli interests almost as much as is the US. Finally, to all those who crow about Mossad doing well to waste the Hamas leader in Dubai, I agree the man had terrorist credentials, but Hamas was democratically elected, despite what Western leaders have to say to keep this low-key. Does that mean therefore that Mossad should be allowed to eliminate any democratically elected person they don't like, ignoring civilised international law?
- Jon Kent, Hertford. UK, 19/02/2010 09:35
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Mr. Cameron, we don't care who killed this Islamic terrorist, just glad someone did. One less nutcase in the world. Brown is using this incident to divert attention from the sound of his money printing presses, and you should not be following him. Instead, Mr. Cameron, please tell us how you intend to fix this country's failed economy and bring inflation down? I want you to tell us what spending you will cut and by how much, for cut you must.
- Alex, Fulham, 19/02/2010 09:27
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"David Miliband branded the abuse of ID documents 'outrageous' .."
I concur, so why has Banana Boy and bent Labour been giving away passports by the hundreds of thousands to anybody who simply asks for one?
- Frank, Home Counties, England., 19/02/2010 09:14
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Big mistake Dave.
This is Browns Banana skin.
Please keep reassuring us that you are going to fix the economy.
- Clifftop, london, 19/02/2010 08:58
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