While the media coverage of the alleged Mossad hit against a senior Hamas terrorist in a Dubai hotel has died down, the UK’s anger against the Mossad has not diminished and officials have signaled Israel that a new Mossad Intelligence Agency emissary is unwelcome in Britain.

Israel is accused of perpetrating the assassination of senior Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, who was found dead in a Dubai Hotel. As a result of the chain of events that followed, involving foreign passports, among them British, the Mossad emissary in the UK was instructed to leave.

According to a Yediot Achronot report, London has refused to permit a replacement Mossad official to set up shop in the British capital, setting a precondition to such an occurrence. The UK is demanding a written Israeli assurance that British passports will not be used in any operation in the future.

To date, Israel has not commented on the assassination and in one media event in Europe, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman pointed out that accusations aside, to date, no one has exhibited factual evidence tying Israel to the incident. He told one reporter “you must be watching too many James Bond movies”.

The expulsion of the Mossad representative from London added already strained relations between Jerusalem and London, and officials in Jerusalem have remained silent, hoping time would heal wounds with this strategic European ally.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)