The Day In Israel: Wednesday Feb 17th, 2010
The assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai is looking more and more like it was a Mossad hit. Unless it was someone else who wanted people to believe it was the Mossad.
Either way, the you-know-what is about to hit the thing with the rotating blades.
Hours after it was revealed that the assassinators of senior Hamas member Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai used the identities of Israeli citizens carrying a British passport, the United Kingdom has began probing the affair vigorously.
London-based Times newspaper reported Tuesday evening that the authorities were investigating the possibility that British passport details were copied from the originals by immigration staff while the holders were travelling.
Earlier, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office confirmed that the identities in the British passports used by six members of the 11-strong hit squad were those of real British passport holders.
“We are aware that the holders of six British passports have been named in this case,” said a spokesman said. “We believe the passports used were fraudulent and have begun our own investigation.”
At least three of the six members are believed to be Israeli-British citizens who live in Israel and who recognized their details in media reports. Melvyn Adam Mildiner of Beit Shemesh, Steven Daniel Hodes of Ramat Beit Shemesh and Paul John Keeley of Kibbutz Nahsholim panicked when they saw their full names on the assassins’ passports, as well as their passport numbers and dates of birth. The pictures and signatures in the passports, however, did not match their own.
The assassinators’ passports include three additional names which are similar, but not identical, to those of Israeli citizens: Jonathan Louis Graham, James Clarke and Michael Bodenheimer.
British Embassy spokesman Rafi Shamir told Ynet that the embassy had not received any appeals on the matter from British citizens living in Israel.
Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)
11:02PM: Palestinians launch an Avatards Facebook group. Hilarity ensues.
7:58PM: ISM terror enabler changes her Facebook name after my post exposing her lies.
4:55PM: Quote of the day:
“I don’t know why we are assuming that Israel, or the Mossad, used those passports.”
- Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman
4:35PM: The London-based Arab paper al-Sharq al-Awsat has lauded the Mossad’s professionalism in the wake of indications that Israel may have been involved in the killing of Hamashole Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.
On the other hand, the London daily al-Sharq al-Awsat actually reported its satisfaction with Israel from the operation, calling it “victory intoxication.”
The newspaper noted a number of points for which Israelis should be proud following exposure of the affair: “Firstly, the pictures acquitted Israeli minister, Uzi Landau, who was accused of bringing about the assassination agents. It was clearly proven that the assassins arrived in Dubai separately and privately without any need for the minister and his entourage. They arrived from Beirut and other countries.”
“Secondly, the operation proved their outstanding professionalism since the assassins were able to carry out (the mission) and leave without any hurdle. According to the Israelis, the professionalism was proven in the methods used by the mission’s agents, step after step, and in the means they used to disguise their real facial features.”
“Third, Dubai is full of cameras at every corner, which was a surprise. The cameras did not prevent this assassination, but made it difficult for anyone seeking to repeat this again in the future,” the paper wrote.
“Fourth, while most of the senior Israeli officials would like blame for the assassination to be assigned to them so they could proudly flaunt it, at the same time, they are glad the Dubai Police have not managed to directly accuse them thus far. The 11 people seen in the pictures as those who carried out the assassination did not carry an Israeli passport, and it is unclear what the investigation will reveal,” the report concluded.
1:45PM: Separated at birth?
The Ha’aretz reporter and his friends and family seem to think so.
But seriously, other than both of them being follicle-ly challenged, I see no resemblance.
9:20AM: CNN’s Rick Sanchez almost sounds excited at the beginning of this report on the Hamas terrorist assassination in Dubai.
About the Author
An Australian immigrant to Israel, Aussie Dave has been blogging since early 2003.Filed Under: General
This is not funny. What if these guys had been abroad, particularly in a Muslim country? Who knows what would have happened to them? (I recall many years ago a couple of people being held in California, partly bacuase the authorities did not understand that "mosad" was simply Hebrew for institution; kind of like someone being held as a CIA agent because his business card said "Corporation".)
I am right now betting against it being us. I really don't think we would endanger our own citizens that way. And if they did, I would like to see heads roll.
BTW, Ramat Bet Shemesh A is heavily British.
I must admit, it does appear that some other group may be trying to "frame" Israel for this. Not that I think killing the terrorist was a bad act at all.
No, but endangering Isreali citizens is.
Absolutely.
If it Israel, then it shows great, daring new capabilities. Maybe Nasrallah could be next…?
A Mossad hit is definitely a likely scenario, but I don't know of any of the name similarities actually means anything. If someone searched in any other country, we may well find people with similar names too – none of these appear to be too uncommon…
We are talking passport numbers. I will assume we didn't do it until proven otherwise.
I read some reports that the numbers were all fake numbers. So that wouldn't be it.
Aside from potentially the names, I don't know what else the hit team would want.
I agree with others that it would be odd for the Mossad to a) not have known Dubai has camera's EVERYWHERE. and b) to have used Israeli Olim. The three Irish people were completely faked, why would they have used real Brits?
Governments lie. All governments, including democracies. They lie for all kinds of reasons, but it all comes down to the fact they lie because they see it as in their best interests to lie. I can accept this. But individual citizens should be free to openly discuss and speculate on all kinds of things, including whether their own government engages in targeted assassinations. It drives me crazy to hear people in a free society being silenced because what they are saying is either unpatriotic, or won't reflect well on your own country to foreigners, or might encourage violence against your own people by stating what must be obvious to others.
What the heck are you talking about?
Just because the Israeli Foreign Minister Lieberman denies Israel's involvement in this guy's death in Dubai, doesn't mean anything. I would expect the official Israeli response to be a complete denial. I don't have to always believe your government or mine. And its ok to say so and speculate who did it and the methods used. I have read on message boards (and perhaps comments even on this blog) that Israelis should not comment on issues that amount to state secrets (ie whether Israel has nuclear weapons, whether Israel engages in targeted assassinations), and even whether Israeli government officials cover-up such matters. To even discuss such matters, the argument goes, endangers Israelis. If you're saying we should be able to discuss anything openly on this blog, then we agree, Michael.
I thought maybe you misread my original comment, as of course I was not commenting either way on your topic, just concerned about possible danger to my fellow citizens by the operation, something this government is extremely careful to avoid actively doing. (Passively, especially when appeasing the U.S. and our enemies, is sadly another story.)
BTW, it has been long been understood here that a large percentage of the population has knowledge of some secret information, and that the citizens are trusted to keep their mouths shut. I am not referring to uninformed opinions (which is basically what you mean), although on at least one occasion I did censor myself when I thought it might give someone an idea.
Jim from Iowa; Isn't "the Israeli Foreign Minister Lieberman denies Israel's involvement in this guy's death in Dubai," enough for you?
Isn't it an "official Israeli response to be a complete denial" ?
I'll try to clarify–yes I do take the statement from the foreign minister as a denial of Israel's involvement. I was trying to say that because governments lie, you can't accept this statement as fact. I don't mean to single out Israel. My point is that ALL government's lie and that it is our responsibilities to sort things out for ourselves. Israeli officials have actually been silent (appropriately so) on this whole news item. I suppose I have revealed my contempt for Lieberman by pointing him out by name. I am guilty of that.
Frankly, if it was the Mossad, then great for them. I hope they get more of the Hamas f***kers. It would be nice if they didn't have to use real people's names, but I have to say that it's certainly a worthy use of a name, especially if the real people can prove they aren't the ones in the photos. If you've gotta be a victim of identity theft, it'd be nice to know that it was for the purpose of killing a terrorist arms smuggler.
Yes, until someone happens to be visiting, Dubai, say, and disappears somewhere never to be heard from again.
This is not an attack against the government. I may be wrong, but I don't think they are that stupid to do something like that. OR perhaps they would be warned at the airport. We do have exit control here.
For dual nationals it may be different (they have foreign passports), but Israelis are unlikely to travel to Dubai without special permission. I don't think they're ordinarily able to enter. I'm not even sure that Dubai isn't one of those places that prohibits entry to people who have Israeli visa stamps on their passports.
You're broader point is well taken, in the sense that the identity theft does put those Israelis at risk, to the extent that they can't show they were the victims of identity theft, and anyone remembers their names are associated with this act, assuming someone is bent on revenge. But except in those very limited circumstances, they're no more at risk than any other travelling Israeli. Which, unfortunately, is too high.
I believe we were referring to dual citizens. If you got a new foreign passport after moving here, Israel won't appear on it, as you cannot leave with anything but an Israeli passport or laisez passe (sp?). But there are other countries, such as Turkey, or say, Nigeria or Indonesia. Given what happened to the Felds (Peled in Hebrew; that didn't help) in the U.S., I shudder to think of what would happen in a less-free country.
The scariest part of this story is the idea that my name could somehow pop up on a passport like this. I'd hate to be one of those olim right now. Do you really think the Mosad would be so sloppy as to use passports with Jewish names on them?
Why would Mossad even risk having an Israeli connection. They could have used any passport from any person in the world but we are supposed to believe that they picked Israelis with dual citizenship.
It just seems like a setup.
I've lost track. Is Dubai one of those countries technically in a state of war with us?
Formally, no. However, It's not a good idea to trust an Arab country on this matter…
I think the United Arab Emirates is in that category, although I could be mistaken.
We had a nice guy from that area, who once clarified the issue for us.
The question is: If not Israel, then who? It's too perfect to be the US or the PA. Only KGB, Mossad, or maybe MI5 or 6 or whatever it is.