Britain expels Israeli diplomat over Dubai killing
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An Israeli diplomat was expelled from Britain over the use of forged British passports in the suspected Mossad assassination of a Hamas commander, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on Tuesday.
![British Foreign Secretary David Miliband speaks at a press conference in London, Britain, March 23, 2010. An Israeli diplomat was expelled from Britain over the use of forged British passports in the suspected Mossad assassination of a Hamas commander, Miliband said on Tuesday. [Kang Yi/Xinhua]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20100324/000cf1bdd03f0d13a8f247.jpg "British Foreign Secretary David Miliband speaks at a press conference in London, Britain, March 23, 2010. An Israeli diplomat was expelled from Britain over the use of forged British passports in the suspected Mossad assassination of a Hamas commander, Miliband said on Tuesday. [Kang Yi/Xinhua]") |
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British Foreign Secretary David Miliband speaks at a press conference in London, Britain, March 23, 2010. An Israeli diplomat was expelled from Britain over the use of forged British passports in the suspected Mossad assassination of a Hamas commander, Miliband said on Tuesday. [Kang Yi/Xinhua] |
Miliband addressed lawmakers in the House of Commons over the issue on Tuesday afternoon, following the conclusion of an investigation into the use of false British documents.
He said there are "compelling reasons" to believe Israel is behind the cloned British passports used by the alleged killers of a Hamas official in Dubai.
Miliband told members of Parliament that "given that this was a very sophisticated operation, in which high-quality forgeries were made, the Government judges it highly likely that the forgeries were made by a state intelligence service."
"Taking this together with other inquiries and the link to Israel established by the Serious Organized Crime Agency, we have concluded there are compelling reasons to believe Israel was responsible for the misuse of the British passports," he said.
Miliband said "such misuse is intolerable and a hazard for the safety of British nationals."
Mahmoud Al Mabhouh, a senior commander of a Hamas military wing, was found slain in his Dubai hotel room on Jan. 20.
The Foreign Ministry last month called in Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor over the issue. Miliband said that during the meeting the British made clear to Prosor how seriously they took allegations of the fraudulent use of passports.
Prosor was called to the Foreign Office again on Monday.
Police in Dubai have accused Israel's Mossad spy agency of involvement in the assassination and have identified at least 26 suspects from the alleged hit squad that traveled to Dubai on fake identities and forged European and Australian passports.
The Foreign Ministry said 12 Britons are now known to have had their identities stolen by the alleged Israeli hit squad. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement in al-Mabhouh's killing.
