LONDON, March 23, (Agencies): Britain expelled an Israeli diplomat on Tuesday over the alleged use of forged UK passports in the assassination of a Hamas operative in a suspected Mossad hit. It was the first time Britain has ousted an Israeli diplomat in more than 20 years.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband told the House of Commons that the diplomat, who has not been named, was removed from London following an investigation into the use of 12 fake UK passports in the Jan. 20 slaying in Dubai of Hamas agent Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.
“We have concluded that there are compelling reasons to believe that Israel was responsible for the misuse of the British passports,” Miliband said.
Britain had demanded a formal assurance from Israel that it would never again misuse British passports and warned British citizens that their identity details may be vulnerable if they visit Israel.
Miliband said an investigation by Britain’s Serious and Organized Crime Agency found that the forged British passports were copies of authentic documents handed over to Israeli officials for inspection either in Israel or in other countries.
“The fact that this was done by a country which is a friend, with significant diplomatic, cultural, business and personal ties to the UK, only adds insult to injury. No country or government could stand by in such a situation,” Miliband said.

Referring to Mossad, Israel’s spy agency, Miliband said “it is highly likely that the forgeries were made by a state intelligence service.”
But Miliband said investigations into the killing of al-Mabhouh were continuing and Britain had drawn no conclusions over who was responsible.
Dubai authorities have accused the Mossad of carrying out al-Mabhouh’s killing in a luxury hotel room and have identified at least 26 suspects in an alleged hit squad who used forged European and Australian passports to enter Dubai.
France and Ireland are also carrying out similar inquiries into the forgery of French and Irish documents.
Interpol has unveiled a wanted list of 27 people in connection with the slaying. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied any involvement in al-Mabhouh’s death.
Israel’s ambassador said he was “disappointed by the decision of the British government” but pledged that the two countries would still have close ties.
“The relationship between Israel and the United Kingdom is of mutual importance,” said Ron Prosor, Israel’s ambassador to the UK.
At least 15 of the names used by the suspected killers match those of Israeli citizens who are dual nationals of Western countries. All have denied involvement, saying their identities were stolen.
Miliband said in the cases of the 12 British citizens, there was “no evidence to suggest that those 12 were anything other than wholly innocent victims of identity theft.”
He said one victim told investigators that “to go to bed a citizen and wake up as a wanted terrorist is shocking.”

The expulsion of an Israeli diplomat from London is the first since 1988, when attache Arie Regev was removed for “activities incompatible with diplomatic duties” — a euphemism for espionage. Britain also barred a second Israeli, Jacob Barad, from returning to Britain after his departure in 1987. Both men were suspected of coordinating Mossad activity in the UK
Miliband, who said he discussed the case Monday with Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, confirmed that Britain had chosen which diplomat would be expelled and said “it was not a random” choice.
But British and Israeli officials declined to confirm reports that the diplomat was Mossad’s London station chief.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor declined to comment on whether Israel would take retaliatory action for the expulsion.
Meanwhile, France has opened an investigation after four fake French passports were used by suspects involved in the killing of a Hamas commander in Dubai, the Paris prosecutor said Tuesday.
French authorities opened a preliminary investigation on March 12 to look into allegations of falsifiying and making use of fake documents, the prosecutor said in a statement.
President Nicolas Sarkozy has strongly condemned the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhuh, without directly accusing Israel of involvement.

The Israeli ambassador was summoned to the French foreign ministry last month to provide an explanation about the use of the fake French passports.
The Paris prosecutor said preliminary checks had shown that the passports were “either delivered with a false identity or falsified with a photograph that did not correspond to the identity indicated,” said the statement.
Hamas on Tuesday hailed Britain’s decision to expel an Israeli diplomat over the use of forged passports in the assassination of one of the Islamist group’s top leaders.
“We in Hamas welcome the British position and the decision to expel the Mossad official in the Zionist embassy for his role in the criminal assassination,” senior Hamas leader Salah al-Bardawil said in a statement.
“We hope this condemnation will rise to the legal level and result in the trial and prosecution of the (Israeli) occupation leaders for this and other crimes they have committed against our people,” he added.

Retaliate
Israel will not retaliate over Britain’s expulsion of one of its diplomats for the alleged misuse of British passports in the assassination of a top Palestinian militant, a senior official told AFP on Tuesday.
“We have no intention of expelling a British diplomat in response to London’s decision,” the official said, asking not to be identified.
“Our priority is to calm things down.”
Earlier, Britain said it was kicking out an Israeli diplomat over the “intolerable” use of fake British passports in the killing of a Hamas chief, in a sharp escalation of tension over the murder.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband said there were “compelling reasons” to suggest that Israel was to blame for the forgeries used by the team which killed Mahmud al-Mabhuh in Dubai in January.
“I’ve asked that a member of the embassy of Israel be withdrawn from the UK as a result of this affair and this is taking place,” he told lawmakers.
“There are compelling reasons to believe that Israel was responsible for the misuse of the British passports ... The government takes this matter extremely seriously. Such misuse of British passports is intolerable,” he said.