Gordon Brown pledges probe into ‘Mossad’ hit squad with British passports

12 April 2012

Gordon Brown ordered an investigation this afternoon into the use of fake British passports by the killers of a Hamas commander in Dubai.

His intervention came as speculation mounted that Israeli security service Mossad carried out the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a leading official in the Palestinian paramilitary group, who was smothered in his hotel room.

Six of the 11-strong hit squad were carrying forged passports bearing the names of innocent Britons. The Prime Minister said: "The British passport is an important part of being British and we have to make sure everything is being done to protect it."

As MPs called for the Israeli ambassador to be summoned to explain the affair, Mr Brown added: "We are looking at this at this very moment. We have got to carry out a full investigation."

Pressure for firm action by the Government is certain to grow if its investigation, or that of the Dubai authorities, produces any evidence that Mossad carried out the killing last month.

Israel's foreign minister today insisted that there was "no reason" to think that his country was responsible for the killing and suggested that it could have been carried by agents from another foreign state.

Avigdor Lieberman insisted that the Mossad spy agency followed the "rules of the game" and was "very clear, cautious and responsible" when conducting security operations. "We have no cause for concern," he added. His comments, which significantly fell short of an outright denial, came as the Britons whose identities were used and expressed their bewilderment.

One described how he "went to bed with pneumonia and woke up a murderer", while another insisted that he had not left Israel, where he now lives, for two years. Another of the six, all British citizens living in Israel, said he was "angry, upset and scared".

Melvyn Mildiner, 31, said: "I don't know how this happened or who chose my name or why. I have my passport. It is in my house, along with the passports of everybody else in my family, and there's no Dubai stamps in it because I've never been to Dubai."

Kent-born Paul Keeley, 42, a builder who has lived on a kibbutz in Israel for 15 years, said: "When I first heard about this I immediately looked to make sure my passport was still there and it was. It is all very worrying but I know I have not done anything wrong."

Former Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell said: "If the Israeli government was party to behaviour of this kind it would be a serious violation of trust between nations. If legitimate British passport holders were put at risk it would be a disgrace."

Mabhouh, one of Hamas's most important military leaders, is believed to have been involved in smuggling Iranian-funded arms to Islamist militants in the Gaza Strip.

The group acknowledged that he was involved in the kidnapping and killing of two Israeli soldiers in 1989, adding that until his death he had played a "continuous role in supporting his brothers in the resistance inside the occupied homeland".

It is thought the Dubai hit squad flew in on separate planes and booked into different hotels wearing wigs and fake beards. At least two of the gang watched the Hamas commander check in to the hotel and booked a nearby room.

Around five hours after setting foot in Dubai, Mabhouh was killed. It is not known if he opened the door to his alleged killers himself.

All the suspects left the United Arab Emirates within 19 hours of their arrivals, it was claimed. Two of them used French and German passports.

Hamas officials have so far failed to state why their commander was in Dubai, amid suggestions that he was on his way to Iran.

Mossad hit squads have used foreign passports before, notably in 1997 when agents entered Jordan on Canadian passports and bungled an attempt to poison Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal.

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