Foreign Intrigue: Britain Expels Israeli Diplomat Over Killing of Palestinian Commander

LONDON, March 23, 2010— -- Britain today announced the expulsion of an Israeli diplomat in connection with the use of 12 forged British passports by suspects involved in the killing of a Hamas leader in Dubai earlier this year.

Israel and Britain have close ties, so it was an unusual move when the British Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, told his colleagues in the House of Commons, "I have asked that a member of the embassy of Israel be withdrawn from the U.K. as a result of this affair, and this is taking place."

An investigation by Britain's Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) into the use of forged or cloned British passports by members of the hit squad in the Dubai assassination led Miliband to point the finger, openly, at Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency.

"Given that this was a very sophisticated operation in which high-quality forgeries were made, the government judges it is highly likely that the forgeries were made by a state intelligence service," said Milband. "Taking this together with other inquiries and the link to Israel established by SOCA, we have concluded that there are compelling reasons to believe that Israel was responsible for the misuse of the British passports."

Miliband said this use of British passports was "intolerable" and that it showed "a profound disregard for the sovereignty of the United Kingdom."

"The fact that this was done by a country which is a friend, with significant diplomatic, cultural, business and personal ties to the U.K., only adds insult to injury," Miliband said.

Interpol has issued arrest warrants for 27 suspects involved in the killing of Mahmoud al Mabhouh, a commander of the militant Hamas group, in a hotel room in Dubai.

Al Mabhouh was known for founding the Ezzedine Al Qassem brigade, the military wing of the Islamist Palestinian movement, and was believed to be supplying rockets and arms supplies to Hamas fighters.

The suspects in his murder were not only using forged British passports, but also European and Australian ones.

France and Ireland are carrying out similar investigations into the fraudulent use of their passports. The SOCA investigation, the results of which Miliband discussed today, was not into the murder itself, only the use of forged British passports.