Authorities in Dubai have been drawing up arrest warrants for six Britons, three Irishmen, a Frenchman and a German national. Palestinian groups are accusing each other of involvement. But in many quarters, Israel remains the chief suspect in the killing of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh at a Dubai hotel on Jan. 20.
Articles in the Middle East press and far beyond — as well as the welter of comments and blog posts — leave no ostensible room for doubt: It was the Mossad, possibly in collaboration with the Palestinian Authority, that did the deed, its operatives hiding behind false European IDs.
Of the 11 people named by Dubai police as being members of the alleged assassination team, six have the same names as British Israeli citizens living in Israel, and one is a German Israeli woman, Israel’s Channel 10 said.
Analysts have argued that intelligence agents traveling with false documents are more likely to get past border controls if they use the names of “real” people.
Three of the olim on the list of suspected hit squad members expressed astonishment over seeing their names on the list.
Paul John Keeley, a Brit who made aliyah and lives at Kibbutz Nahsholim, told Israel’s Channel 2, “I’m in shock and I don’t even understand what I’m seeing.”
Referring to the photograph of alleged hit-squad member “Paul Keeley” disseminated by Dubai police along with pictures of other alleged assassins, the Nahsholim resident added, “It doesn’t even look like me.”
Keeley moved to Israel 15 years ago, and said his passport had not been lost or stolen.
“I am just a father, a husband and a kibbutz resident,” he said.
Another British Israeli whose name appears on the list, Stephen Daniel Hodes, said, “I am in complete shock and I don’t understand what is going on. I don’t know how they got to me. That’s not my picture, of course. I haven’t left the country in two years, and I certainly have not been in Dubai. I don’t know who is behind this. I’m scared.”
Michael Lawrence Barney, a third oleh who found his name on the list, told Channel 10, “This is a mistake or a case of identity theft, but it isn’t me. That’s for sure.”
As for the trio of alleged Irish passport-holders on the list of hit men — Gail Folliard, Evan Dennings and Kevin Daveron — they do not exist, or at least do not appear in Ireland’s records of legitimate passport-holders, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin.
“We are unable to identify any of those three individuals as being genuine Irish citizens,” it reported. “Ireland has issued no passports in those names.”
Hamas has blamed Mossad for the assassination and vowed revenge. Dubai police have said they do not rule out Mossad involvement, but as of Feb. 17 had yet to formally accuse Israel’s vaunted spy agency of the killing.
A number of Mossad operations in the recent past have involved the use of foreign passports.
Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s foreign minister, said Feb. 17 there was no reason to assume the Mossad pulled off the assassination.
“I don’t know why we are assuming that Israel, or the Mossad, used those passports,” Lieberman told Army Radio in Israel’s first official comments on the affair.
But Lieberman did not deny involvement outright, saying Israel rightly maintains a policy of ambiguity where security operations are concerned.
“Israel never responds, never confirms and never denies,” he said. “There is no reason for Israel to change this policy.”
While few people are privy to the cloak-and-dagger operations of the Mossad, senior Israeli security officials not directly involved with the affair said they were convinced it was a Mossad operation because of the motive and the use of Israeli identities. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of a government order not to discuss the case, characterized it as a significant Mossad bungle.
Amir Oren, a military analyst for the Israeli daily Ha’aretz, called for the ouster of Mossad director Meir Dagan.
Al-Mabhouh was one of the founders of Hamas. Israeli defense officials have said he was a point man in moving rockets from Iran, or funded by the Iranian government, into Gaza — rockets that would be capable of striking Tel Aviv. Hamas has described him as a senior intelligence official.
Dubai Police Chief Dahi Khalfan Tamim stated that al-Mabhouh was not in Dubai on an arms purchasing mission involving Iran, as has been suggested.
The Associated Press and Yaakov Lappin of the Jerusalem Post contributed to this report.