Ireland announced on Tuesday it’s expelling an Israeli diplomat in punishment for the alleged Mossad use of forged Irish passports to assassinate a top Hamas official in Dubai.
Israel has refused to confirm or deny its agents’ involvement in the January slaying of Hamas official Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, who Dubai officials have said was killed in his hotel room by people posing as holidaymakers in the oil-rich Arab emirate.
They said assassins using 32 fake passports — including eight depicting fictional Irish citizens — participated in the hit squad.
The Irish department of foreign affairs and Ireland’s national police force, the Garda Siochana, launched parallel investigations, but said their appeals for information from Israel fell on deaf ears.
“The misuse of Irish passports by a state with which Ireland enjoys friendly, if sometimes frank, bilateral relations is clearly unacceptable and requires a firm response,” Irish foreign minister Micheal Martin said as he announced the expulsion. Ireland’s two investigations have reached “the inescapable conclusion that an Israeli government agency was responsible,” he said.
Mr Martin said the expelled Israeli official, who was not identified by name or position, was not found guilty himself of forging or stealing Irish passports, but was “a victim of the actions of the state they represent.” Mr Martin also condemned Israel’s alleged assassination of Mabhouh.
“Many allegations have been made against Mabhouh which, if true, would categorise him as a committed terrorist,” Mr Martin said.
“The Irish government does not believe that states should fight terror with terror. As a matter of principle, Ireland opposes extra-judicial killings. We believe that states have a duty to operate according to the law and to respect that way of life that terrorists seek to destroy.”
Mr Martin’s aides said this was the first time Ireland has expelled an Israeli official. It last took such action in the mid-1980s against Russian officials suspected of spying activity on behalf of the former Soviet Union.