UK Calls In Israeli Ambassador Over Dubai Hamas Murder

The British government has called in the Israeli ambassador to discuss the use of fake UK passports by the alleged killers of a Hamas commander in Dubai. Gordon Brown has also ordered an inquiry into the passports, which bear the names of six British-Israelis who are not the men pictured. Dubai police believe 11 "agents with European passports" killed Palestinian militant Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in January. Israel said there was no evidence to link its secret service. Israel's foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, refused to issue any formal denial in line with a "policy of ambiguity" on security matters. He told Israeli Army Radio: "There is no reason to think that it was the Israeli Mossad and not some other intelligence service or country up to some mischief." It is expected that the Israeli Ambassador, Ron Prosor, will meet Sir Peter Ricketts, head of the diplomatic service, on Thursday. Israel's ambassador to the Republic of Ireland, Zion Evroni, said he had received a summons from the country's Department of Foreign Affairs and would be meeting Minister Michael Martin. Sir Menzies Campbell, former Liberal Democrat leader and member of the Commons foreign affairs committee, said the ambassador had to be questioned. "The one institution that does know whether Mossad was involved in this matter is the Israeli government and I expect that the senior civil servant in the Foreign Office will say 'well, now's your chance to tell us one way or another'," he told BBC's Newsnight. Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn has called for Mr Prosor to be expelled from the UK if he cannot provide "adequate assurances". The BBC's Middle East correspondent Jeremy Bowen said if there was proof Israel had used British passports "for some nefarious uses of its Mossad service as they have in the past Canadian and New Zealand ones", then relations between the UK and Israel would be "in a crisis". The Serious Organised Crime Agency has been asked to look into the fraudulent use of the passports.