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Dubai Wants Head of Mossad Arrested Over Hamas Assassination
The Dubai chief of police called yesterday for the arrest of Meir Dagan, the head of Mossad, if it is proved that the Israeli spy agency was behind the assassination of the Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.
An image grab taken from hotel surveillance camera allegedly shows two murder suspects following Hamas militant Mahmud al-Mabhuh (front) in Dubai. Israel played down a diplomatic row following the killing of Mabhuh in Dubai by alleged Mossad agents caught on camera and carrying European passports.
(AFP/Dubai Police) Lieutenant-General Dahi Khalfan Tamim called on Interpol, in a statement last night, to issue a red arrest notice seeking Mr Dagan's extradition "as a killer in case Mossad is proved to be behind the crime, which is most likely now".
An insider close to the case confirmed that Mr Dagan and Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, are top of the Gulf state's wanted list.
"Our investigations reveal that Mossad is involved in the murder of al-Mabhouh," General Tamim said. "It is 99 per cent, if not 100 per cent, that Mossad is standing behind the murder."
Police in Dubai said that they would release new evidence in the coming days that proves that the assassination can be traced to the Mossad headquarters in Herzliya, a suburb north of Tel Aviv. Officials have never ruled Mossad out of their investigation but have stopped short of accusing the Israeli spy agency directly until now.
Some Israeli commentators are openly calling for Mr Dagan to resign, arguing that the diplomatic row and negative publicity generated by the assassination are unacceptable.
Gideon Levy, a correspondent for the Hebrew daily Haaretz, accused the Mossad chief of acting recklessly. "We have long forgotten that Mossad is supposed to be an intelligence-gathering organisation, not one that sows death, and that a lawful state does not operate hit squads.
"To the roars of approval by the pundits, Dagan has just been given another year on job [sic], his eighth. Why? Partly because he's a specialist at liquidation," he wrote.
However, officials in the Israeli Foreign Ministry said that it was "highly unlikely" that Mr Dagan would step down before his tenure expires.
The softly spoken former paratrooper was wounded twice in more than 30 years of service in the Israeli Army. He served as head of the Counter-Terrorism Bureau, and became a confidant of Ariel Sharon, the future Prime Minister, during their years in the Israel Defence Forces.
A former Mossad agent who worked for Mr Dagan told The Times that he was likely to ride out the storm: "Mossad is facing a lot of anger right now over the use of British and European passports. I don't know if Mossad was actually involved or how they got those passports, though I can say that Dagan isn't the kind of man to care about angering a few people to get the job done. He is what you would call a one-man show."
Talk of Mr Dagan's unwillingness to share power surfaced early in his tenure, when The Jerusalem Post reported that more than 200 Mossad agents had resigned over his style.
Officials in Dubai have conceded that it could be almost impossible to catch al-Mabhouh's killers. Even if the assassins were somehow identified, the United Arab Emirates has no diplomatic relations with Israel, let alone judicial co-operation agreements.
So far the only suspects being held are three Palestinians accused of working with the Israelis. Ahmad Hasnin, a Palestinian intelligence operative, and Anwar Shekhaiber, a Palestinian Authority official in Ramallah, were arrested in Amman and have been extradited to Dubai, Jordanian officials said. A third man, named by Palestinian media as Nahro Massoud, a Hamas security operative, was arrested in Damascus. All three were residents of the Gaza Strip until the Hamas takeover in June 2007, and a Hamas official in Gaza said that it was "likely" that they knew al-Mabhouh, who was killed in his hotel room in Dubai on January 19.
Dubai's police chief said that one of the Palestinians extradited from Jordan had been observed meeting one of the suspected Mossad agents.
Israel has long had a far-reaching network of Palestinian collaborators. In the past, defence officials have acknowledged that Israel's security establishment depends highly on "turning" Palestinians into collaborators using various methods that include blackmail, money or threats.
Mr Dagan's predecessor, the British-born Ephraim Halevy, was known for a more diplomatic approach, Amir Oren, a military correspondent for the Israeli daily Haaretz, said. "Dagan, meanwhile, is not trying to come across as diplomatically elegant."
While some Israelis have argued that Mr Dagan should resign, many are pleased with the way he runs the agency. "Mossad have renewed the aura that the name used to generate in the region," Alon Ben David, an Israeli intelligence analyst, told Israeli radio.
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40 Comments so far
Show AllThe whole point is you are not supposed to get found out or be caught.
"However, officials in the Israeli Foreign Ministry said that it was "highly unlikely" that Mr. Dagan would step down before his tenure expires."
He has obviously failed and caused Israel serious embarrassment, so what can we expect? A sudden stroke perhaps or maybe a car accident?
No one is irreplaceable and what goes around...!
"Some Israeli commentators are openly calling for Mr Dagan to resign, arguing that the diplomatic row and negative publicity generated by the assassination are unacceptable."
So, they are not calling for a resignation because there was an assassination - but only because the way it was done happened to generate bad publicity?
Is all morality dead? Is there no sense of right and wrong here?
Has a living green shoot broken through the plastic that is Dubai?
Joe
Apparently 2 Palestinian were caught who work for the Abbas collaborators at the US backed Palestinian Authority. Their stories will be interesting to hear. It should strengthen the elected Hamas government.
"Their stories will be interesting to hear."
they'll never be heard from again... who was the guy who falsely linked Saddam Hussein to Al Qaeda who "committed" suicide in libya... how about the IT guy who ran 2004 ohio sect of state election reporting websites... whose plane crashed in '08... weeks after he was served a subpoena... and if dubbai genuinely wants info from these two... someone... you can be sure... is working overtime right now to make sure that they never see the light of day again...
I am confused, I thought Israel could act with impunity just about everywhere and assassinate anybody it thought was a nuisance to them? Anyone who disagrees is anti-semitic, right?
Levy is correct--a lawful state does not operate hit squads. Israel, however, is not, nor ever has been, a lawful state. How can anyone ignore the illegal occupation, the war crimes, the assassinations, the house demolitions, the murder of women, children, journalists and foreign activists? Israel's apartheid wall has been condemned by Israel's own supreme court. If this is a lawful state, then the bar is even lower than when Bush ruled the US.
The US maintains "hit squads", and has done so since at least 1960 when the CIA were authorized to assassinate Fidel Castro (see the Church Report which recounts 8 such authorizations). In 1998 Clinton authorized the CIA to assassinate Osama bin Laden.
The US is a lawful state, so it stands to reason that Levy is incorrect.
And how many of the Palestinians are in the West Bank USA security training progam ?
Why is Dubai so behind the times? Calling for people to be arrested is so old-fashioned, as Israel and the U.S. keep demonstrating. What you do is call the person a terrorist, and then assassinate him.
I don't even think they could hold the Mossad accountable even if Dubai (UAE) used its considerable resources to hire a top hit-man to take out Dagan.
Israel is an integral and priveleged part of the US Empire and enjoys immunity from international law and accountability; backed up by the most well-funded military and coercive forces on the planet.
The time is near when it will be clearly understood that to murder one person is the same as having murdered every person on this earth.
If Israel is behind the assassination it should confess and try the perpetrators. Otherwise a terrible precedent is set for other countries.
Setting a precedent? On which planet were you living before?
the israelis celebrated the birth of their nation by killing swedish u.n. mediator count folk bernadotte, so today's news is just a ripple in a 62 year old river of death. the count was a u.n. mediator charged with demarcating reasonable boundaries for the new state of israel. a friend of the jews, the swedish count worked to free thousands of jews from nazi occupied europe. yet, when the count recommended narrower boundaries than the zionists wanted, david ben gurion's friends conspired to kill him. whereupon a mr. cohen, ben gurion's valet, emptied his machine gun into the good count's heart. he even killed his driver, whom he thought to be american ambassador ralph bunch. amazingly enough, the mossad could not figure out this crime. they arrested no one. all the others confessed after the statute of limitations had run and hit man cohen had died. most of the conspirators have streets in tel aviv named after them. ironically enough, israel adopted a statute of limitations just after nazi hunter simon wiesenthal declared that there should be no statute of limitations for evil murderers. of course, 90 year old nazis are worse than mr. cohen was, i'm sure, as he was so traumatized by hitler that he could not resist his impulse to kill the count. every time that i read the paper, i realize that george marshall, american statesman par excellence, was so right when he almost resigned over truman's premature recognition of israel. now, we have a nation of a mere 7 million possessed of land fever and 880 nuclear weapons, some of them thermonuclear. daily this rogue state makes us hold our collective breaths, as we wonder what war, land grab, atrocity, or chemical weapon that it will next perpetrate against any of its neighbors. we have given the israelis the power to drag us to the precipice of nuclear annihilation. they mean to take the whole world down with them if they can't have the state they want, the one they think they deserve because of their biblical status of "chosen people". and then, there's john kennedy's 1963 letter to the israeli prime minister. google the preceding sentence and you can read it. and weep.
So how many Israeli IDF/Mossad/Parliament members are now wanted for crimes by foreign countries? I count Britain, Germany, Italy and now Dubai. Any others I missed? I would also include Palestine, but as we know, Palestine does not "exist".
Isn't this called state-sponsored terrorism?
Why didn't the Dubai police arrested Mahmoud al-Mabhouh?
He is a known terrorist, with blood on his hands, on a mission to parches weapons.
The Hasbarist trolls come out of the woodwork right on cue and only comment on articles related to Israel policy. Thanks again for proving a point Letto.
Socialist, I'm sure you're familiar with the advice to lawyers along the lines of, "When the facts are against you, pound the law; when the law's against you, pound the facts; when the law AND facts are against you, pound the table!"
The Hasbarists think that this approach is their clever secret-- that no one will notice that they use one rhetorical gimmick after the other, e.g. Changing the Subject, to constantly appear to dominate the argument.
They indeed "come out of the woodwork" selectively; like shysters who only pick "winnable" cases, they won't even show up to "pound" away in comments to reports of egregiously appalling and indefensible actions by the Israeli government, including Mossad and the IDF.
And even when they surface, they're lost without dopes to snare in their tropes and ropes.
· Yr Obd't Servant
Good points OS, thanks. Yeah, diversions, pounding the table, red herrings, straw men, ad hom. smears and moot points seem to rule the day with them. They doth protest just a bit too much.
Obedient: "...they use one rhetorical gimmick after the other, e.g. Changing the Subject, to constantly appear to dominate the argument."
Are you referring to Horrified and socialist, who changed the topic from "Dubai police" to "Let's swear and tell pathetic lies on letto"?
No, I was referring to your changing the subject from "Mossad assassination squad" to "Dubai police".
It also applies to your changing the subject from pathetically transparent Hasbarist spin doctoring to faulting other commenters, but that predictable event hadn't taken place when I wrote my previous comment.
Glad I could clear that up.
· Yr Obd't Servant
socialist: "The Hasbarist trolls come out of the woodwork right on cue and only comment on articles related to Israel policy. Thanks again for proving a point Letto."
Check this article:
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/02/18-1
Comment form February 19th, 2010 11:04 am
You were saying???
One lousy comment, please. I was saying..Yeah, diversions, pounding the table, red herrings, straw men, ad hom. smears and moot points seem to rule the day with them. They (the Hasbarists) doth protest just a bit too much.
Racist, imperialist and hypocritical is no way to go through life son, you better ask somebody.
I'm sorry that you feel that way, socialist.
What else should I do or say in order to be not racist, imperialist and hypocritical in your eyes?
Quit playing games, you know exactly what I am talking about. Like I said, if you don't know, you better ask somebody.
Here is what I know (And I’m sure you’ll agree with these facts):
-Mahmoud al-Mabhouh is a known terrorist with blood on his hands, who entered Dubai for the purpose of purchasing weapons for the Hamas.
-He was assassinated by a group of people who used fake European passports. There is no proof, but there is a common consensus that these assassins were send by the Mossad.
-Dubai police is investigating the assassination and the passports.
-I asked a question which I think is relevant and legit: “Why didn’t the Dubai police investigate how Mahmoud al-Mabhouh entered Dubai and why wasn’t he arrested?
I’m not playing game, but I really truly don’t see why asking this question turns me into a racist imperialist hypocrite. Please enlighten me.
Ariel Sharon had Blood on his hands. Benjamin Netanyahoo has blood on his hands. So when these people visit the United States...why are they not arrested?
Thanks again for proving my point Letto, you make it too easy...I am sorry you cannot see that
And you are known fcking troll....what else is new?
Isreal was born of Jewish terrorism....and he who lives by terrorism will die by terrorism.
So the EU is more concerned with false passports than murder, the real issue here.
Damn right we are!
Tragically the fact that Israel kills people is of little surprise any more, and frankly for the EU and the UK in particular to try and take the moral high ground would just make us look silly. The murder of one Hamas leader is nothing when compared to the recent atrocities in Gaza, and we effectively turned a blind eye to that. Moreover if we start getting involved at every perceived injustice in the world then we would be ... well ... neo-cons I suppose.
We do however have a right to establish the innocence of our citizens and to defend the integrity our passports, that is very much our business. For better or worse Israel is our ally and it is naive to think that for them to kill disguised as our citizens is merely some technicality.
The nation is state is an absurd game, but as long as we all insist on playing it then the use of EU passports is a big deal and serious breach of diplomatic trust.
"We have long forgotten that Mossad is supposed to be an intelligence-gathering organisation, not one that sows death, and that a lawful state does not operate hit squads."
Send that memo to our own Executive and Legislative branches.
Hamas agents, in a secret overseas operation, have carried out the assassination of a senior Israeli military commander. The agents, members of an Islamofascist political terrorist group, are now known to have used false Iranian passports.
With that story the jingoists are pounding away on the drums of war with full support of every page A1 in 99% of news papers in the United States. Fox News is organizing lynch squads for any Hamas supporters and Obomba is expanding the war into Iran.
Where is the outrage on the lack of media coverage when the Israelis are to blame?
I could only find one related article on Common Dreams. WTF?
"Islamofascist political terrorist group" no such thing my friend. Hamas is a political party, a social services organization and a militant orgnanization fighting for the liberation of illegally occupied and sieged territory.
Looks like you need to take a PolSci 101 course at your local community college. Read up on the history of Fascism, who was Benito Mussolini? How did he define Fascism?
I think you should read what he posted again. He is pointing out the double Standards.
but don't you love the pickle israel just threw on the U.S. diplomatic table...
dubbai and israel... are key allies...
and dubbai and israel now have a little row... hmmm...
billions stashed offshore in dubbai... not to mention neighboring states' as a launch pad into "areas of our national security interests"...
against
israel... the "dont ask dont tell"... nuclear armed "ally" keeping those same said pesky A-rabs in check...
dubbai... HAS to make a stink...
israel... they would toss netanayu's grandmother on the fire first before fessin' up...
and the good ole' USofA... has to keep spreadin' that ol' liberty and freedom like a cheap peanut butter and jelly sandwich anywhere we have cheap natural resources at stake...
I just can't control my feelings of utter glee on this subject because a major goof by the arrogant Israeli government calls out my sense of fairness. Not because Israel has taken the life of yet another Palestinian but because the goof is quite an embarassment to Mossad's perfectionists.
Mossad did something super-similar in 1997 when it attempted to kill Khalid Meshal with a potion of Fentanyl placed in his ear. It didn't work, the agents were caught, Meshal lived after King Hussein clamored for an antidote, and Israel was left with egg on its face.
It seems pretty obvious, that a country may assassinate someone, as in this case, but that there is always going to be another 'Hamas' member to take his place. It's a never-ending cycle. So, cut it out, already, Israel.
This is wonderful news - finally somebody has the assertiveness to tackle Israeli crimes head one - Go Dubai go - my hats go off to you !