Israel Matzav: The Arabs are convinced it was the Mossad

The Arabs are convinced it was the Mossad

Arab 'analysts' are convinced that they know who is behind the liquidation of Hamas terrorist and arms dealer Mahmoud al-Mabhouh: The Mossad.

The Dubai authorities 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 his Dubai hotel on January 20.

Articles in the local Gulf press and far beyond – not to mention the welter of talkbacks 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.

A typical “expert analysis,” from Dr. Muhammad Salah al-Misfer, an Arab political analyst, in the London-based Al-Quds al-Arabi the other day, ran as follows: “The Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, encouraged the Gulf states to boost their relationship with Israel. Dubai decided to host a high-level Israeli official (minister Uzi Landau). And less then 72 hours after his departure, a leader of Palestinian resistance group Hamas was assassinated.”

“During the first visit of high-ranking Israeli delegation, a son of Hamas is being killed. What does it say to us?” echoed a talkback from Mustafa Tawil in Saudi Arabia.

“UK: Mossad behind terror of Hamas commander,” screamed a headline on the Iranian Press TV website, citing London’s Daily Telegraph as its source.

Dahi Khalfan Tamin, Dubai’s chief of police, also continues to pour oil on the fire, albeit only a trickle, and somewhat incomprehensibly.

“All those who seek revenge from others, if it was right for them to carry out revenge with their own hands and to make up a team of killers, so they can get their revenge, this is the way of mobs not countries,” he rambled at a press conference on Tuesday morning, without actually naming Israel. “And if any country in the world turns to follow the path of the mobs, they will be wanted by justice.”

But Dubai doesn't seem to be close to capturing the real killers:

Tamim said Tuesday that Dubai would seek assistance from Interpol and press individual nations to hunt down the suspects.

“We’d be very grateful for such cooperation and we won’t [take it lightly] if someone refuses to help us,” he said.

Ireland came back with a response almost immediately, and it wasn’t terribly surprising or helpful. The Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin reported that the trio of alleged Irish passport-holders in the assassination team – Gail Folliard, Evan Dennings and Kevin Daveron – do not exist, or at least do not appear in Ireland’s records of legitimate passport-holders.

“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.”

Heh.

By the way, Tamin denies the rumor that Mabhouh came to Dubai to do an arms deal with Iran. Tamin claims Mabhouh could have gone to Iran directly had he wanted to go there.

Israel Matzav: The Arabs are convinced it was the Mossad