Britain expels an Israeli diplomat as a row over the killing of a Hamas official rumbles on

“GIVEN that this was a very sophisticated operation in which high-quality forgeries were made, the Government judges it highly likely that the forgeries were made by a state intelligence service.” So said David Miliband, Britain’s foreign secretary, on Tuesday March 23rd, explaining to Parliament why he had decided to eject an Israeli diplomat—thought to be a member of Mossad, the Israeli external intelligence service—from the country.

The row stems from the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a senior member of Hamas killed in a Dubai hotel in January. The killing involved 27 undercover agents travelling on forged passports. Twelve of the team used British documents; others used fake Irish, Australian and French papers. The papers may have been forged, but the identities were real: many belonged to Israeli citizens with dual nationality. In press interviews, all of the genuine passport-holders have denied any knowledge of, or involvement in, the Dubai killing. But their identities were certainly made use of. British policeman have travelled to interview some of them. Their statements may have provided the government with at least some of the “compelling reasons” which Mr Miliband said led him to believe that Israel was responsible for the misuse of British passports. …