Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, speaking on Saturday, suggested that Israel will not face a diplomatic crisis with Europe over the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai "because there is nothing linking Israel to the assassination."
"Britain, France and Germany are countries with shared interests with Israel in countering terrorism," Ayalon said.
Not so fast. The latest information indicates that a diplomatic crisis is near unavoidable.
Israel is now directly implicated in the killing as British diplomatic sources have been told that Israeli immigration officials at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv secretly copied the British passports which were then used by the Mossad assassins.
But if stealing the identities was not enough, Dubai police now say that some of the killers were carrying diplomatic passports.
Israel has questions to answer and the dismissive responses it has given so far will not satisfy European governments that are fast running out of patience.
Meanwhile, Victor Ostrovsky, a former colonel in Mossad, advised the Israeli residents whose identities were stolen that their lives are at risk.
"They're safe so to speak, until somebody kills them. I would tell them: do not travel outside the country for at least two years, under any circumstances," he said.
In the Daily Telegraph, Alasdair Palmer notes that judging by the international reaction to the killing of al-Mabhouh, forging passports is much worse than murder. He, like most humane observers, begs to differ:
This apparent international consensus that assassination is a legitimate tool of foreign policy is a very sinister development. State-sponsored murder is still murder. And murder is still a worse offence than using forged passports.
As for President Obama, he is presumably monitoring the situation. Having determined that Hellfire missiles circumvent a host of intractable legal issues, the world's only other enthusiastic proponent of so-called targeted killing is unlikely to condemn the latest episode in Mossad's ongoing killing spree.
Talk about killing two birds with one stone. Israel gets to murder Palestinians with extreme prejudice and force Jews to remain in Israel and the occupied territories.
Is this “Jewish self-determination?” Just asking.
It’s kinda sad, C4700, when you start thinking along those lines. No boundaries, no outrage, nothing off limits in the ‘what’s in it for us’ tactical calculus of Zionism. They really have erased any sense of individuality. If a couple of innocent Israeli Jews gets their brains blown out on account of this mess, well that will only bind them together even more tightly in the Jew vs. anti-Semite steel-cage death match. No wonder Jewish and Christian end-time Zionists get along so famously.
From Haaretz:
Report: PM approved Dubai assassination in early January
and
About those two Palestinians:
Out of curiosity, would there be any way to find out if the two Palestinians arrested, who are making out to be members of Fatah-aligned security personnel, would be possibly among those trained by US personnel? Food for thought about just how deep the roots of this are.
RE: “…Mohammed Dahlan, formerly a Fatah strongman in the Gaza Strip…” – MRW
ME: He’s Elliott Abram’s “boy”, isn’t he? He might be CIA as well.
No big deal, Gentiles are always Israeli cannon fodder. No different than in the USA.
The difference is, I think in Europe A) the governments actually generally care when their citizens are endangered by Israel (let alone murdered which is more than can be said for Americans), and B) European governments can’t afford not to care about what average European citizens think, very much unlike the United States and our governments responsiveness to the needs of its citizens (New Orleans? Bank bailouts? Health care?)
which gentiles are you talking about Citizen?
The real test will come when the EU issues a condemnation about passport forgery by other nation-state actors (re:Israel).
The response to that condemnation will determine which way this entire affair will go. So far, I’m glad that I was wrong in my skepticism.
The foreign-born Israelis whose identities were stolen are in quite a bind to say the least.
If they are smart they should change their names and leave Israel for good.
RE: “If they are smart they should change their names and leave Israel for good.” – Avi
BETTER YET: Apply for ‘refugee status’ in the U.S., and go into the ‘witness protection’ program. But then, would they be safe from the Mossad in this country?
FROM WAYNE MADSEN:
February 16, 2010 — Israeli kiosk vendors at malls in U.S. disappearing
Israeli mall kiosk vendors, identified by the National Security Agency (NSA) and U.S. counter-intelligence agencies as part of an Israeli intelligence-gathering operation in the United States, have started to abandon their kiosks in malls across the United States, according to information received by WMR.
In particular, kiosks that sell Israeli Dead Sea skin care products, have recently been vacated by young Israeli nationals at the Arundel Mills Mall in Hanover, Maryland and at malls in the Philadelphia area. The kiosks have been emptied of their products and have been vacated, according to our sources.
In the past, Israeli mall kiosks sold products ranging from toys to ear jewelry.
NSA security warned NSA employees that the Israeli-owned kiosk at the nearby Columbia, Maryland mall should be avoided by NSA personnel as NSA intercepts determined the kiosks are affiliated with Israeli intelligence-gathering operations in the United States…
link to waynemadsenreport.com
I have it on good authority that the Israelis have been infiltrating locksmith businesses all around DC. I hope the intelligence agencies are reading this.
Why? They’ve rolled over when Israel has swindled us before. Israel already has the virtual keys to the Capital — at this point having the literal keys is just another twig on the pyre.
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I don’t know what to make of this cheeky Ron Kampeas piece praising Mossad chief Meir Dagan and listing his previously unacknowledged assassinations outside of Israel’s borders, including in Iran, Syria and Lebanon. Does all of this bragging really serve Israel’s interests?
link to jta.org
They probably “did” both Hariri and Arafat.
More bragging by Judy Miller in Tablet. link to tabletmag.com
Oh well, if they can’t get their sanctions on Iran, they’ll be bragging about their assassinations. It’s all good.
She still gets published by someone?! Oh, wait, it’s a Zionists media outlet. Never mind, that pretty much is the only forum in which she’d get rewarded by employment for defending the lie that turned into an invasion and occupation that is breaking the back of the US military.
The Dubai authorities are handling this story in an interesting way. Most of the information that they have released in the last couple of weeks has information that they had obtained quite early in the investigation. What they have been doing is giving hints at to what they would release next and then releasing in a day or two. They are also pacing the releases about 2 or 3 days apart. What this is doing is keeping the story on the front pages daily for the past two weeks. If they had released everything at once the story would have died down by now.
Poor Israel, being bled by thousand small cuts. Their denials are meaningless for no sooner do they try then another damaging piece of information is released. Since I have always considered Dubai and western puppet state I believe this play is being coordinated with other western intelligence agencies. Is it possible that some powerful forces in Europe might be getting a little tired with Israel?
Endangering the lives of European citizens and undermine one of the core foundations of international travel, diplomacy and commerce — the sanctity of other countries’ passports –has probably gone a long way into making the powers that be in Europe regret propping Israel up even tacitly. No one likes to offer to stand in front of someone, and then find themselves with a knife in the back.
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