UAE considered keeping Mabhouh hit under wraps, WikiLeaks cables reveal
U.S. diplomatic cables show that the UAE decided that remaining silent on the assassination of the Hamas operative would be seen as siding with Israel.
By Reuters Tags: Israel news Hamas Dubai Dubai assassination WikiLeaksThe United Arab Emirates chose to release details of a Hamas leader's assassination in Dubai nearly a year ago, after deciding silence would be seen as siding with Israel, U.S. cables released by WikiLeaks showed.
The assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in an hotel room - which UAE police said was very likely the work of Israel's Mossad spy agency - was carried out in January by a team using forged passports and disguises.
 |
Dubai's Police Chief Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim identifying eleven suspects wanted in connection with the Mabhouh killing. |
| Photo by: AP Photo / Dubai Ruler's Media Office |
"The two options discussed were to say nothing at all, or to reveal more or less the full extent of the UAE's investigations," U.S. Ambassador Richard Olson wrote in a diplomatic cable, citing a conversation with a UAE government media adviser.
Saying nothing "would have been perceived as protecting the Israelis", the ambassador wrote. The cables released on the WikiLeaks website show the hit was discussed for nine days at the highest levels before being released to the public.
"The statement was carefully drafted not to point any fingers, but the reference ... to a gang with Western passports will be read locally as referring to the Mossad," Olson wrote.
Israel has said there was no proof that its intelligence agency was behind the murder, which eliminated a Hamas leader suspected of smuggling arms into the Gaza Strip.
Dubai officials were not immediately available for comment on the cables.
As Dubai splashed details of the hit, complete with surveillance camera footage and passport scans, a diplomatic row erupted since many of the suspected assassins were travelling on forged European passports.
The cables, written soon after the assassination, do not reveal the identities of the agents. But Dubai's police chief Dahi Khalfan Tamim had said he expected they would show that Mossad was involved in the murder.
"The documents will surely prove to those who doubted us," Tamim said, Gulf News quoted him as saying in a report last Friday.
It was also reported on Tuesday that the United States declined a request from the UAE to assist the investigation into the Mabhouh assassination.
Why Facebook Connect?
Comment on Haaretz.com articles with your Facebook login, and share your thoughts on your own wall.
- Latest
- Most Viewed
- Most Rated
- Open all
I know most people here are pointing the finger at Mossad...and as a pro-Israel Jewish man I can almost agree with you but till there is substancial proof I could see it being done by any others who had previous arms dealing with this man. Even the Dubaians thought about keeping it hush because of the tenuous but productive relationship between Israel and the UAE. I think there is a lot more to the story that does not point only to the Mossad.
They're all complicit in murder. It takes one to do it and the others to hide it and/or ignore it
Good move, Dubai. That way you buy your protection from Murder, Inc. Unfortunately you lose your independence, but who really cares about that?
Israel rarely confirms or denies anything and we all know that Mossad was behind this assassination but lets not all cry about it. The man was a killer in his own right and assassinating him has ensured that he will never murder anybody ever again. Mossad did the world a favour and may they do the world many more favours in future.
Go Wikileaks!!!!!!!!!!! When I saw the movie : Stock Shock-The Short Selling of the American Dream, it gave me the inside story on market manipulation and saved me a bunch of money. That’s called education and free press and you won’t find it in mainstream news. I recommend you protect yourself and buy the “Stock Shock” DVD (cheaper at the movie site http://www.stockshockmovie.com) and watch, learn and pass it along.
As per cable 10ABUDHABI47, read it all at: http://213.251.145.96/cable/2010/01/10ABUDHABI47.html
"Israel has said there was no proof that its intelligence agency was behind the murder, which eliminated a Hamas leader suspected of smuggling arms into the Gaza Strip." Haaretz wrote Tamir Pardo, Mossad's new chief, is mulling apologizing for the passports it used to kill Al-Mabhouh. Why is the monotone phrase above still included in any article about the Dubai hit?
Do you think those cables have been written yesterday?
Haaretz isn't providing an original story, nor is it providing any Israeli sources for the story. The Brits, no doubt, want to gain access to Israeli intelligence lost since the Mossad station chief in the UK was sent home. But they want to get a pound of Israeli flesh first if they can - thus, the planted British story.
It could be that the people in charge of the leaked cables are trying to tantilize the public. Just give enough to keep them excited and then the big cable will prove it. Then the movie.
Any Earth Shattering Expositions from Wikileaks. To begin with the US government chose to not help in the investigation after three credit cards (numbers given in cable 10ABUDHABI103) issued by an obscure bank in Iowa (Certain Information Agreed) were used by the assassins, so all we are likely to read is gossip.
"side" with Israel every single day the Palestinians are stateless, rich arab oil barons and you donate barely anything to the Palestinians, G-d sees all and knows all.
Palestinians live in the state of Israel
Live in the Territory under Military Occupation by Israel since 1967. Were it part of Israel, Israel would have had to make them citizens when it annexed the occupied territory. See: Fourth Geneva Convention, to which Israel is a signatory.
Can you please explain me how were created borderes of Israel. Who and why created them?
It wasn't our fault and nobody complained. Oh, but excuse-me, the Palestinians were invented in 1967.
Which will soon be shrunken to 1967 borders in order to make way for the new Palestinian state on what always has been Palestinian land.