U.K. officials were split over expelling Israeli in Dubai row
Foreign Office officials back expulsion of Mossad man over alleged use of forged U.K. passports.
By Anshel Pfeffer, Uri Blau and Danna Harman Tags: Israel newsLONDON - British officials were split over whether to expel an Israeli diplomat from London this week, with U.K. security officials viewing the move as overly harsh, Haaretz has learned.
But while the security officials, who are in regular contact with Israeli security officials stationed there, expressed reservations over the move, Foreign Office representatives supported it, a high-ranking official in the British Prime Minister's Office has confirmed.
The official said the Tuesday decision to expel the diplomat - identified in the British press as the Mossad security chief in London - was ultimately made unanimously, however.
The Foreign Office would not comment on the matter.
The expulsion was an extraordinary step taken after Britain found compelling evidence that Israel was responsible for the use of forged British passports in the plot to slay senior Hamas operative Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai.
A high-ranking Israeli diplomat said Britian was not overreacting.
"The British really did the minimum required on their part over the passports," he said.
Indeed, top Israeli and British officials held talks Wednesday over continuing intelligence sharing.
By contrast, intelligence cooperation between the two countries practically ground to a halt for nearly a decade after then-prime minister Margaret Thatcher ordered Mossad agent Arie Regev deported from the U.K. in 1988 over a double-agent operation in which the Israeli agency was believed to have spied on Britain.
This time, rather than stop sharing information, Britain will allow Israel to simply replace the diplomat with someone else.
"We gave the British everything they asked for on issues of Middle East terrorism that they deemed important," said a senior Israel Defense Forces official involved in intelligence sharing with Britain. "This was despite the fact that they didn't fulfill their commitment to change laws allowing the arrest of IDF officers in Britain on suspicion of war crimes."
The Foreign Ministry is considering forcing a British diplomat out of Israel in response to the Israeli diplomat's expulsion from Britain, Haaretz has learned.
But though advisers have encouraged Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman to take such a step, he has reportedly yet to decide on a response.
Meanwhile, Israeli officials are concerned Britain's decision could pave the way for other countries to expel Israeli diplomats as well.
The Australian reported yesterday that Israeli government sources told the Sydney-based paper that of the five countries whose passports were used in the assassination, Australia is the most likely to follow Britain's example.
Canberra summoned Israel's ambassador after the Dubai assassination in January, and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he was not satisfied with Ambassador Yuval Rotem's explanations.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband telephoned his Australian counterpart Stephen Smith yesterday to explain London's decision, The Australian reported.
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UK have forgotten they called the Jewish people the Palestinians during WWII. Some Arabs have said it was not Israel in Dubai as two agents flew to Iran.
we in Australia are on to you and you kind unlike Britain(read newspapers?)we get them and sooner that they think the Muslim terrorists, the world should stop crawling up to Arabs who financially support terrorist unofficially, but we know better and everybody should be grateful to Israel for the work they doing, and I don't mean Dubai story that I don't believe and many more, Arabs did and conveniently blame Israel, and the British peasant gov fell for it and got our PM to do it, so they all will have one shot at gov. The world had enough.
Read the headline again : "U.K. officials were split over expelling Israeli in Dubai row." The split, Sinbad, was over whether the Israeli Ambassador should have been expelled instead of some nameless spook. Israel never expects repercussions for its actions. It prefers to hide behind the skirts of the worn-out "anti-semitism" defense whenever challenged.
graduated in radicalisation from and embarkerd from? Thats right Londonistan.
UK is practically a Muslim state at this point.
Sometimes it looks as if the Brits never went over the fact that Israel was the second country (after India) where the sun started to set on the British Empire
the terrorist killed in dubai certainly didnt only have israel as a foe! imagine it turns out israel was not the initiator???? UK diplomats can take a bath in the toilet then!
or commonwealth? The UK labour party is using Israel t get Muslim votes in the forthcoming elections as they hold the swing vote. The Muslims are slowly taking over the UK and this is a is a bad sign
use their real passports, photo-id driving licence and business card. i should know as i had a fried called JAMES BOND who worked for MI5 and his business card said "MI5 Special Undercover Operations - Surveillance" on the back it even gave his specialities: Assassinations, Search and Destroy, Women.
A student referendum at Warwick University REJECTED a proposal to twin with Gaza Islamic University.
Israel only gets careless when they heed the leftist propoganda nonesense. As for its arrogance, more power to them. It is long overdue. You Brits are not the high & mighty peeps like you think you are. God aint saving your queen.Letting Israel fight terrorits on its proven terms will save yours & others western bums.Ta ta
It was once said that the sun never set on the British Empire. Now it looks like the rain will drown us instead.
The official said the Tuesday decision to expel the diplomat - identified in the British press as the Mossad security chief in London - was ultimately made unanimously, however. So although the officials were split about expelling the Mossad Station Chief they unanimously agreed to the move. Sounds like something out of the Novel 1984.
and what would that be, the words of arabs or anti-semites? Where's the proof, tangible, unrefutable evidence? Close your eyes and tell me what you see Bubkas , zero, zilch,nada nothing that their (uk) evidence!!! Nice try your royal eminence.
We had on terrorist act in about 10 years in London, so we are hardly in the thores of Islamic radicalism here in London. In fact only today a cross party parliamentary committee has found that heightened security alerts for prolonged periods in London are counterproductive and frequently unjustified. Israel may not need the UK for security co operation but they do need it for diplomatic support. They ought to be more circumspect. Lately Israel is getting careless and arrogant in its actions. The acttions of a state that feels no inhibitions is getting to be a pain in the neck for US troops and UK citizens alike.
Of course it was the British foreign office that pushed for the expulsion of the Israeli diplomat, not the security people. That's because there are no Jews in the security sector, while the Foreign ministry is headed by David Milliband. Like in the Obama administration, it is the assimilated, self-loathing Jews who spearhead and provide legitimacy to todays anti-Semitisim.
Arab money talking in the de UK?
Londonstan faced with a severe Islamic terrorist threat situation needs Israeli intelligence cooperation far more than Israel needs Britain's.
Why has no one expelled a Dubai (UAE) diplomat to protest their welcoming terrorists in their country. Or at least called in an ambassador to berate them for housing these dangerous international criminal terrorists? Just a thought.
terrorist. After all, who better for Yaacov to stand up and defend than a murderer of Jews and an arms smuggler for terrorists. After all, how dare the Jews try to protect themselves. And with forged passports no less. The cheek! The Chutzpah!!, What nerve. Better to deport them all for not playing by gentlemens rules. But then again, this is from an individual who continues to try to divorce himself from. From those who haven't the wisdom to bow down in front of the pedestal he places himself on.
There is very strong evidence of Israel's culpability. This is simply diplomatic language. UK is more polite than Israel and does not wish to unduly embarrass a rogue regime that promised them yrs ago when they were caught doing the same thing that they would not do it again. Redux.
And kick out their ambassadors as well. There is a move in Ireland to do so. And let us say: Amen.
Expelling the Israeli Diplomat is only one way to put pressure on Bibi to freeze new settlements. Don't bother Israel!
Finally, a diplomatic response from Israel! Rather than continuing to over-react, there seems to be a sense of maturity and proportion developing. After the 1987 incident when an Israeli operative left forged British passports in a telephone box in Germany, Israel promised that UK passports would not be used in future operations. The decision to do so placed Mossad in an impossible position vis-a-vis the UK government with regard to Dubai. Needing the support of the UK as a permanent member of the UK Security Council and a leading member of the EU and NATO, Israel finally seems to have sensed that British support against Iran might be more important than an obscure Palestinian individual!
IE they are demanding an ADMISSION OF GUILT....They want Israel to say "fair cop"(as they say in UK) .They have ABSOLUTELY no evidence except a claim that the Passports were expertly copied... and they dont even have one of the so called expertly coppied passports. So it MUUUUUUST be Israel!