Dubai seeks '11 Europeans' for Hamas killing

[Magda Hassan]

Who's that bloke Smith? He's certainly sticking his neck out a bit. Maybe he's just not politically ambitious?

He's the Foreign Minister here. It was 'courageous' of him. as Sir Humphrey would say. We don't have an election though.

[Carsten Wiethoff]

Looks like these can be legally obtained by just anybody. Ideal for spooks.
From http://www.payoneer.com/FAQ.aspx


About the Payoneer Prepaid MasterCard card
Who is Payoneer? Payoneer markets, manages and services prepaid MasterCard® cards. Payoneer works together with MetaBank™ or Choice Bank Limited to issue and process our cards. A leader in offering prepaid solutions for online applications, Payoneer's headquarters are located in New York. For more about Payoneer, go to About Us.

How does the Payoneer Prepaid MasterCard card work? The Payoneer Prepaid MasterCard works just like any other Prepaid MasterCard card. The card is accepted at all locations worldwide, where Debit MasterCard is accepted. You can use it at a point of sale location to make purchases and at an ATM* to withdraw cash. With the added security of choosing your own PIN, you can be assured of no unauthorized use of your card.

Who can get a prepaid MasterCard card? Payroll card: Anyone worldwide over the age of 18 can order the Payoneer Prepaid MasterCard through our partners to receive earnings. You don't need a bank account to apply.

If I receive a prepaid MasterCard card, what am I committed to? Nothing. You can use the card to obtain cash for your funds, use it in stores or online. If you decide to use the card, it can be loaded and used multiple times. Once the money on the card is depleted, and your card has a zero balance for 60 days, the card will automatically be deactivated and you have no further obligations with respect to the card.

What happens to my card if I don't use it? If the card value is depleted and remains at a zero balance, no monthly maintenance fees are charged until funds are loaded onto the card again.

[Magda Hassan]

I want one. Where do I sign?

Sounds like the pre-paid credit cards you can get at the post office and petrol stations everywhere.

[Carsten Wiethoff]

I want one. Where do I sign?

Sounds like the pre-paid credit cards you can get at the post office and petrol stations everywhere.

The more interesting question is: Who fills it up?:bandit:

[Magda Hassan]

Unfortunately, if it is anything like my pre paid credit card - you do. On the plus side there are no interest charges. Just a one off fee to get it the first time.

[David Guyatt]

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/war...5834538957

Warning on passport forgery ignored, says former diplomat

Mark Dodd and Paul Maley From: The Australian February 26, 2010 12:00AM

IN 2004, it was an open secret in Canberra's Middle Eastern community that Israeli agents were trying to obtain "clean" passports from countries such as Australia and New Zealand to be used by its spy agency, Mossad.

Ali Kazak was the Palestinian representative to Australia at the time and he went public with his concerns, warning the Howard government that Mossad was trying to obtain Australian passport details fraudulently.

Mr Kazak, who served as a semi-official ambassador from 1982 to 2006, last night said he had been vindicated by confirmation that cloned Australian passports were used by suspects in the murder of Palestinian militant Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.

"I told you but you didn't act on the warning," Mr Kazak said. "And you've put Australian lives at risk."

In 2004, Mr Kazak declared that a Mossad agent operating in Sydney at the time had obtained 25 false Australian passports.



Mr Kazak said his claims were played down by then federal attorney-general Philip Ruddock.

Months later, New Zealand police arrested two suspected Mossad agents who had flown in from Australia after a botched attempt to obtain a false passport using identity details of a wheelchair-bound cerebral palsy victim.

The agents had picked a target they guessed was unlikely to travel abroad but their attempts at faking a New Zealand accent aroused the suspicion of an immigration official who alerted Wellington's small but sharp security service.

The two Israelis, Eli Cara and Urie Zoshe Kelman, were promptly arrested.

New Zealand's prime minister at the time, Helen Clark, blasted Israel and suspended all high-level diplomatic contacts over the incident.

Cara and Kelman pleaded guilty to the charges and were sentenced to six months' jail by an Auckland court on charges of having attempted falsely to obtain a passport.

The two served their sentences and were sent home to Israel.

A year later, Israel apologised and diplomatic ties were restored.

Cara, a former Israeli air force officer, had operated a travel business based in the northern Sydney suburb of Turramurra.

Mr Kazak said yesterday he had no doubt Mossad was behind the murder of Mabhouh.

"Yesterday the Israeli members of parliament were praising the head of Mossad for what he did -- for assassinating the Hamas leader in Dubai," he said.

"We know they've been responsible for counterfeiting New Zealand passports. We know that in 1997 when they (Mossad) attempted to assassinate the Hamas leader Khalid Meshaal they used Canadian passports. And we know Mossad agents were operating out of Sydney (in 2003), were counterfeiting Australian passports.

"I said that at the time, but did the Australian government -- Alexander Downer -- investigate seriously this Mossad activity? No, I don't think so."

In 1997, Mossad bungled the assassination of Meshaal, who was injected with a poison while in Jordan by Israeli agents travelling on Canadian documents. Meshaal survived after his assailants were captured by his bodyguards and Israel provided the antidote.

Mr Kazak said the Australian government's failure to properly investigate Mossad's activities here amounted to appeasement and had put Australian lives at risk. "Can you imagine what Australia would do if this (passport fraud) was being done by an Arab or Muslim country?" he said.

"This neglect, this appeasement, this closing of eyes towards Israel is putting Israel's interest above Australia."

Mr Downer last night rejected Mr Kazak's claim.

Speaking from Greece, the former foreign minister said the Howard government had bluntly warned Israel not to issue fake Australian passports to its intelligence operatives.

"I'm not 100 per cent sure that I didn't myself raise it with the Israelis," Mr Downer said. "I may have done. I couldn't rule it out."

Mr Downer said the warning was issued in the context of a series of botched operations involving Mossad agents travelling on fake passports.

"My recollection is that over time we have raised this issue with the Israelis," he said. "We have raised the issue of Israeli intelligence officers using foreign passports and that they should not consider using Australian passports."

Mr Downer said the attempted forgery of a New Zealand passport provoked outrage across the Tasman.

"It was certainly raised with me in a very animated way by Phil Goff when he was the New Zealand foreign minister," Mr Downer said. "They were very, very animated about it."

The normally voluble Jewish lobby group Australia Israel Jewish Affairs Council last night declined to comment on the looming diplomatic spat. An AIJAC spokesman told The Australian its director, Colin Rubenstein, was seeking more details.

[Jan Klimkowski]

Carsten - outstanding work. hakehands:

In the spirit of follow ze money:

Payoneer:
Payoneer is headquartered in New York City and employs over 100 experienced financial and technology professionals. We are a registered MasterCard Merchant Service Provider (MSP), and partner with MetaBank™ or Choice Bank Limited to deliver our services. Privately held, our funding partners include Greylock Partners, Carmel Ventures, and Crossbar Capital

http://www.payoneer.com/aboutUs.aspx

Today, Greylock operates out of offices in the Bay Area, Cambridge, Israel and India.

Greylock Partners is organized in a series of thirteen limited partnerships begun in 1965, 1973, 1979, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1990, 1994, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2005 and 2009. On 2nd November, 2009 Greylock announced $575 Million Fund and hired Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn Co-Founder, as Partner. In 2006, Greylock launched Greylock Israel, a separate fund dedicated to Israel. Committed capital across the Greylock partnerships exceeds $2 billion. Greylock's limited partners include the nation’s most prestigious university endowments, major American industrial families and not for profit foundations.

Greylock was founded in 1965 by Bill Elfers and Dan Gregory, joined shortly thereafter by Charlie Waite. Bill and Charlie had both worked at American Research and Development Corporation—one of the country’s first venture capital firms—while Dan was an investment manager at John P. Chase. The original capital ($9 million in total) was committed by a group of six prominent families, all of whom are still investors in Greylock.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greylock_Partners

American Research and Development Corporation was a venture capital and private equity firm founded in 1946 by Georges Doriot, the "father of venture capitalism"[1] (former dean of Harvard Business School), with Ralph Flanders[2] and Karl Compton (former president of MIT).

The firm was originally founded to encourage private sector investments in businesses run by soldiers who were returning from World War II. ARDC's significance was primarily that it was the first institutional private equity investment firm that accepted money from sources other than wealthy families although it had several investment successes as well. [4]

Former employees of ARDC have gone on to found several prominent venture capital firms including Greylock Partners (founded in 1965 by Charlie Waite and Bill Elfers) and Morgan, Holland Ventures, the predecessor of Flagship Ventures (founded in 1982 by James Morgan).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Re...orporation

Carmel Ventures, established in 2000, is an Israeli venture capital fund with over $600 million under management. Carmel is focused on early stage companies in the fields of Software, Internet, Media, Communications, Semiconductors, and Consumer Electronics.

Carmel Ventures is an affiliate of the Viola Partners, a private equity investment group with over $1.5B under management focused on technology-based investment opportunities in Israel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmel_Ventures

[Carsten Wiethoff]

The Dubai police obviously tries to keep this cooking by releasing information piece by piece.
They claim to have found the DNA of at least one of the assassins, and fingerprints of others. ( http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/crime/...s-1.589261)

They also mention an "Emirati-international task force" commencing work tomorrow, let's see if the U.S. will provide support as well.

In earlier statements Dubai police mentioned they have Iris scans of the suspects as well.

Israeli media claim that the passport photos do not show the real appearance of the agents, but were modified.
( http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1152584.html )
This sounds like psychological damage control to me, on the one hand acknowledging Mossad involvement, but claiming that the damage done is not so high as it may have seemed.

[Magda Hassan]

ASIO targets new spy suspects

JASON KOUTSOUKIS

February 27, 2010
EXCLUSIVE
ASIO is investigating at least three dual Australian-Israeli citizens who they suspect of using Australian cover to spy for Israel.
The investigation began at least six months before last month's assassination of the Hamas operative Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, widely believed to have been carried out by the Israeli security agency Mossad.
Authorities in Dubai have revealed that three people suspected of taking part in the assassination were travelling on Australian passports, using the names of three dual Australian-Israeli citizens.
The three Australian names linked to the assassination are in no way connected to the three people being investigated by ASIO.
According to two Australian intelligence sources who have been in contact with the Herald, the three men under surveillance all emigrated to Israel within the last decade.
Each has travelled back to Australia at different times to legally change their names and obtain new Australian passports. One of the men has changed his surname three times, the other two have changed theirs twice.
The men have changed their names from surnames that could be read as European-Jewish to ones more typically identified as Anglo-Australian.
Australian citizens are generally allowed to change their name once every 12 months, as long as it is not for criminal reasons.
The new passports have been used to gain entry to a number of countries that are hostile to Israel including Iran, Syria and Lebanon. All three do not recognise Israel and forbid Israelis from entering. Israel also forbids its citizens from travelling to those countries for security reasons.
The Herald understands that the three Australians share an involvement with a European communications company that has a subsidiary in the Middle East. A person travelling under one of these names sought Australian consular assistance in Tehran in 2004.
The Herald has contacted two of the men, both of whom emphatically denied they were involved in any kind of espionage activity.
Both men confirmed they had changed their surnames, but said that the proposition they had done so in order to obtain new documents to travel throughout the Middle East were, in the words of one, "totally absurd''.
"This is a complete fantasy," said the man when contacted in Israel. "I have changed my name for personal reasons.''
The other man, who was not in Israel when contacted, expressed shock at the suggestion he was under any kind of surveillance and said that he had also changed his name for personal reasons.
"I have never been to any of those countries that you say I have been to,'' he said. ''I am not involved in any kind of spying. That is ridiculous."
The same man is also believed to hold British citizenship, and is believed to have come to the attention of British intelligence after he had changed his name.
In January the Herald visited the offices of the European company that connects the three men.
The company's office manager confirmed to the Herald that one of the men being monitored by ASIO - the same man believed to hold a British passport - was employed by the company but was "unavailable".
The company's chief executive later emphatically denied that this man was ever employed by his company, and totally rejected that his company was being used to gather intelligence on behalf of Israel.
ASIO said it had no comment to make on the case.
Meanwhile, the government confronted Israel for a second time yesterday over the Dubai plot, with the acting ambassador in Tel Aviv, Nicoli Maning-Campbell, conveying the government's concerns to officials in Israel.
The Israeli embassy in Canberra said it had relayed Australia's demands to Israel but would not comment.
with Jonathan Pearlman

http://www.smh.com.au/world/asio-targets...-p929.html

[Peter Presland]

Always necessary to read between the lines with Debka File. They are Uber-Zionist so their editorial bias is a no-brainer - which is not to say that wide understanding of that fact is not used to have misleading stories/interpretations planted by you know who - the usual spook smoke and mirrors stuff.

All that said this is interesting - Italics and bolding mine:

DEBKAfile: Dubai police claim of DNA and fingerprints is not credible
DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis February 27, 2010, 12:15 AM (GMT+02:00)

Mabhouh with mysterious shadows

Dubai's police chief Dhahi Khalfan said Friday, Feb. 26, that DNA and fingerprint evidence of at least one of the 26 team of assassins had been found in the hotel room where Hamas commander Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh was found dead on Jan. 19. The first arrest warrants have now been issued through Interpol.
debkafile's intelligence sources report that the Dubai authorities believe that a persistent stream of "revelations" about the Mabhouh investigation will make Israel and its Mossad intelligence agency slip up and admit responsibility for his death.
According to those sources, it makes no sense for the Dubai police to have found DNA or fingerprints in room 230 of the Al-Bustan Rotana luxury hotel occupied by Mabhouh and in none of the other rooms taken by hit team members. Any fingerprints will not be of much use unless they can be matched with prints of identified persons already on file with the Dubai police, and in any case are probably not genuine.
Our sources disclose that all the suspects arrived in Dubai disguised from head to toe and their fingerprints were most likely faked along with the rest of their appearance. Therefore, the Dubai police's fine collection of video clips and passport photos are of little use to the inquiry.
debkafile sources therefore dismiss the claims by the Dubai police and certain Israeli publications citing "security experts" that the Mossad was caught unawares by the security cameras which tracked the death squad's movements. They missed the fact that the team was not only aware of the cameras but controlled them and used them in support of their mission.
Therefore, when Khalfan comes out with his next round of "revelations," he will most likely produce video depictions of some of the suspects using electronic gadgets to open the door of 230, Mabhouh's hotel room, at 8:24 p.m. Jan. 19, as the victim climbed up from the lobby to his room. The next shot 19 minutes later will show the same suspects leaving room 230, relocking the door and with the same gadget shooting the inside bolt home to concoct the appearance of a locked room mystery.
But the Dubai police are clearly missing the essential 19-minute segment covering the action inside room 230, without which they have no real evidence of a crime.
That did not happen by chance.
According to our sources, the death squad kept the cameras running long enough to exhibit their facility to penetrate any secure site in the Middle East, but switched them off when they wanted to conceal the actions they took in pursuance of their mission.

Controlling the security cameras eh?

Now where have we seen that before - only to have it comprehensively rubbished as having no possible bearing on matters - 9/11, 7/7 for starters?

I find it verging on the comical that Mossad's apologists should go to such lengths to tell things in a manner clearly intended to strike fear into the hearts of all those stupid Arabs and laud the technical prowess of their masters whilst simultaneously suggesting they didn't do it anyway.

Seems to me it is THEY who are stupid - and long long past their sell-by date.