Dubai seeks '11 Europeans' for Hamas killing

[Magda Hassan]

Presumably there is no extradition between Germany and Dubai? I am sure The Dubai legal authorities would have wanted to question him or charge him.

[Carsten Wiethoff]

Magda,
as far as I know, "Uri Brodsky" was never on the Interpol wanted list. "Michael Bodenheimer", the man who received the fraudulent passport in question, still is.
Brodsky was arrested in Poland and extradited because of a request by the German authorities, but not for possible complicity in the Dubai murder, but only for his assistance in the passport scam.
For me this clearly indicates that German authorities, under pressure from Israel, do not want to look into the backgrounds of Mossad activities in Germany and elsewhere.

[Magda Hassan]

Yes. looks like they are dealing with this as some sort of bureaucratic misdemeanor rather than conspiracy to murder.

[Ed Jewett]

"Report: Suspect in Dubai assassination used identity of fallen IDF soldier" (my emphasis in red - the Ha'aretz comments notwithstanding, it is an amazing resemblance, so close that there is no doubt in the matter):

"In 1994, according to the investigation, someone named Lockwood had been known as Yehuda Lustig, born in Glasgow, Scotland to a Jewish family that had lived in British Mandatory Palestine and was killed in Sinai during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The question of who the real Christopher Lockwood was remained open. On the Internet, conjecture even surfaced that Yehuda Lustig, whose name was inscribed on a memorial, had not been killed and that 40 years later, Lockwood is the same person.

A glance at the side-by-side photographs of Lustig, the young soldier, and Lockwood provided by Interpol reveals an uncanny resemblance, particularly in their eyes, noses, mouths and the outlines of the chins.

An examination of Interior Ministry registration documents pointed to even more mystery regarding the true identity of Lustig-Lockwood.

An Israeli citizen by the name of Yehuda Lustig is registered within the state's information archives. The details of this Lustig's life are suspiciously similar to that of the fallen IDF soldier: He was born in 1948 in Britain, and his father was also named Martin.

The living Lustig is listed by the Interior Ministry as a bachelor, with an address at Allenby 10 in Tel Aviv. That address, however, proved to be false: there is no residential building at Allenby 10, only a convenience store."

It appears we've stumbled on some of the Israeli tradecraft in action. I suspect that Ha'aretz wouldn't be allowed to provide this much detail if Lustig/Lockwood wasn't safely hidden away. at 10/10/2010 10:30:00 AM

[Magda Hassan]

It appears we've stumbled on some of the Israeli tradecraft in action. I suspect that Ha'aretz wouldn't be allowed to provide this much detail if Lustig/Lockwood wasn't safely hidden away. at 10/10/2010 10:30:00 AM

To be resurrected when the next time arises.

Yep. Definitely something up with this.

[Magda Hassan]

Mossad 'issued death threats' to Dubai police chief
(AFP) – Sep 30, 2010
DUBAI — Dubai's police chief said he has received death threats from Israel's spy agency Mossad linked to his role in uncovering details of the assassination of a senior Hamas leader, a report said on Thursday.
The Arabic-language Al-Ittihad daily quoted Dahi Khalfan as saying he had "received two death threats based on the case of Hamas militant" Mahmud al-Mabhuh's assassination in a Dubai hotel on January 20.
The police chief accused Mossad of being behind both threats, the state-owned paper added.
The first threat came days after Khalfan released pictures of the suspected killers and at the same time accused Mossad of involvement in the murder.
"Protect your back if you were capable of leaving your tongue loose," a message said, according to the paper.
Experts in the United Arab Emirates had traced the source of this message, Khalfan told the paper, without giving further details.
Khalfan in mid-February released the names and photographs of 11 murder suspects he said had entered Dubai with European passports -- six from Britain, three from Ireland, one from Germany and one from France.
The second threat, the paper said, was a telephone call to one of Khalfan's relatives, a retired top Emirati official, from a "Westerner with a dual passport" whom, he said, had asked "my relative to advise me to remain silent."
It was later proved that the caller was a retired Mossad agent, he added.
Khalfan, according to the report, also revealed that the authorities of a "Western country" had arrested a suspect involved in Mabhuh's assassination "two days ago."
The person arrested was among a number of suspects for which international red notices had been issued by global police agency Interpol on behalf of the UAE, he added, without giving details of the country or the person involved.
The UAE is seeking the extradition of the suspect, the daily added.
Mabhuh, a founder of the military wing of the Islamist Hamas movement which controls the Gaza Strip, was found dead in his room in the Al Bustan Rotana hotel near Dubai airport.
Twelve British, six Irish, four French, one German and three Australian passports were used by the 26 people believed linked to the murder, according to Dubai police.
In many cases, the travel documents appeared either to have been faked or obtained illegally. The countries whose passports were used all called in Israeli envoys for talks.
Britain announced in March that it was expelling one Israeli diplomat while Australia announced in May that it was throwing out an official from the Israeli embassy.
Israel has said there is no evidence linking it or Mossad to the assassination.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/art...07089a.1e1

[Jan Klimkowski]

"Report: Suspect in Dubai assassination used identity of fallen IDF soldier" (my emphasis in red - the Ha'aretz comments notwithstanding, it is an amazing resemblance, so close that there is no doubt in the matter):

"In 1994, according to the investigation, someone named Lockwood had been known as Yehuda Lustig, born in Glasgow, Scotland to a Jewish family that had lived in British Mandatory Palestine and was killed in Sinai during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The question of who the real Christopher Lockwood was remained open. On the Internet, conjecture even surfaced that Yehuda Lustig, whose name was inscribed on a memorial, had not been killed and that 40 years later, Lockwood is the same person.

A glance at the side-by-side photographs of Lustig, the young soldier, and Lockwood provided by Interpol reveals an uncanny resemblance, particularly in their eyes, noses, mouths and the outlines of the chins.

An examination of Interior Ministry registration documents pointed to even more mystery regarding the true identity of Lustig-Lockwood.

An Israeli citizen by the name of Yehuda Lustig is registered within the state's information archives. The details of this Lustig's life are suspiciously similar to that of the fallen IDF soldier: He was born in 1948 in Britain, and his father was also named Martin.

The living Lustig is listed by the Interior Ministry as a bachelor, with an address at Allenby 10 in Tel Aviv. That address, however, proved to be false: there is no residential building at Allenby 10, only a convenience store."

It appears we've stumbled on some of the Israeli tradecraft in action. 10/10/2010 10:30:00 AM

Yes - Lustig/Lockwood appears to be a deep cover mechanic.

Verifiably invisible.

The Dubai police chief has outed several Mossad operatives and I'm sure is taking the threat to his life most seriously.

Haaretz may also have been leaked certain, carefully selected, details to build up a romanticized picture of Lustig/Lockwood as a covert warrrior for the state of Israel (akin to some of those involved in say the hunting down of alleged Black September members).

Plus rather than being a forged British passport, (which provoked faux outrage from the British government), the claim made through Haaretz is that Lustig/Lockwood used a genuine British passport because he was originally British.

British authorities were furious over the alleged forgery, but it became apparent that one of the men the Dubai police accused of aiding the assailants, Christopher Lockwood, used an authentic British passport.

(snip)

Lockwood maintained mystery in his British life as well. He left no tax records or clinic registration, never paid a television license fee and, naturally enough, did not bother to wait in his London flat to answer investigators' question. A cellphone registered in his name was switched on in France, but the investigation there quickly hit a dead end - as with all the other 30 suspects whose pictures were prominently displayed on newspaper pages but did little to help investigators out of a labyrinth of stolen or borrowed identities.

Despite the diplomatic row over the killing because of the use of foreign passports, Western governments showed little eagerness to search for the suspects, and Dubai fears that the more time passes, the less chance to locate the "Mossad agents" the city-state believes to be behind the act. The passage of time allows commanders to cover tracks, while the actual operators, Dubai authorities believe, are already safely in Israel.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/new...r-1.318106

[Magda Hassan]

Perhaps the sticky fingers of the US on this action too?

Wikileaks: State Department Lied, Denying Dubai Asked for Assistance in Tracking Mossad Assassins

List submitted by Dubai to State Dept. of credit cards used by Mossad killers
On February 25, 2010, State Department spokesperson Philip Crowley lied when he told a press conference that he wasn't aware of any request from Dubai for assistance in tracking the Mossad killers of Mahmoud al-Mabouh. To those who say that Wikileaks hasn't told us anything we didn't already knowthink again.
Wikileaks has just released a February 24, 2010 cable in which the embassy relays the specific credit card numbers used by 14 of the 27 known Mossad suspects to State with a request for assistance from authorities investigating the killing, and confirms that the UAE foreign minister made the exact same request directly to Secretary Clinton on February 23rd:

On the margins of a meeting with visiting Secretary [of Energy] Chu, on Feb 24 MFA Minister of State Gargash made a formal request to the Ambassador for assistance in providing cardholder details and related information or credit cards reportedly issued by a U.S. bank to several suspects in last month's killing of Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh in Dubai. According to a letter Gargash gave the Ambassador (which transmitted details of the request from Dubai Security authorities to the UAE Central Bank), the credit cards were issued by MetaBank, in Iowa.
Comment: Ambassador requests expeditious handling of and reply to the UAEG request, which was also raised by UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed in a February 23 meeting with Secretary Clinton in Washington.

Twelve of the cards were provided by MetaBank and Payoneer, the latter a payment processing service with close ties to Israeli intelligence services.
At the time, I expressed strong doubts about the interest on the part of the U.S. in playing any constructive role in rooting out these killers. Which of course is tremendously ironic considering that we're the ones wagging our fingers at Muslim states for not doing enough to root out terror from their midst. Here we have a case of Israeli intelligence committing cold-blooded murder, using the financial services of U.S. companies to do so, and we take a pass on investigating or cooperating. How do you spell h-y-p-o-c-r-i-s-y?
Yesterday, I reported that incoming Mossad director Tamir Pardo was prepared to concede Israeli responsibility for the Dubai hit. To any who might view this as an Israeli official seeking to take responsibility for Israeli misdeeds or some such…Wikileaks is rumored to be about to publish cables in which the lid is blown on Mossad involvement. So it's no skin off Pardo's back if he admits to a crime which was about to be exposed anyway by others.

[Magda Hassan]

WikiLeaks cables show Dubai considered keeping Hamas assassination quiet

29/12/10, 1:18 pm 92 Views No Comments
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File photo of the mother of Palestinian militant Mahmoud al-Mabhouh holding up a photo of him at their home in the Jebaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip.

Image: AP Photo/Hatem Moussa

US CABLES RELEASED BY WikiLeaks show that the UAE debated whether or not to keep the assassination of a Hamas leader in a Dubai hotel quiet.
Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was killed almost a year ago by a group believed to have been agents for the Israeli secret service, Mossad.
The cable, written by the US ambassador to the UAE, says that Dubai rulers Mohammed bin Rashid and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed discussed the issue of the UAE's public position on the killing:

The two options discussed were to say nothing at all, or to reveal more or less the full extent of the UAE's investigations. (Comment: Saying nothing would have been perceived as protecting the Israelis and in the end, the UAE chose to tell all…)

The assassination was discussed by high-level officials for nine days before a statement announcing the death was released, Al Jazeera reports.
Some of the group of suspected assassins were carrying forged Irish passports. Others travelled on forged British and Australian passports. The Irish government considered recalling all passports issued before 2005 when more stringent security features were introduced, but decided against the move given the expense involved.
The passport scandal led to Israeli diplomats, who were not personally involved in the situation, being expelled from Ireland, Britain and Australia. The Israeli government has maintained there is no conclusive evidence that its agents were involved in the killing, despite claims made by authorities in Dubai.
http://www.thejournal.ie/wikileaks-cable...t-2010-12/

[Magda Hassan]

Dubai murder-accused had Kiwi link

JARED MORGANFormer Israeli diplomat to New Zealand Zev William Barkan leads a life akin to that of novelist Frederick Forsyth's Jackal emerging from the shadows only to be named by authorities in connection with various crimes before again disappearing.
Barkan is still wanted in New Zealand as the alleged ringleader of an illegal passport scam in 2004; last year he was named as a suspect in the slaying of a Hamas operative in Dubai.
Barkan is one of 32 people Dubai police suspect as having a role in the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in a hotel room in the emirate in January 2010.
Four fake Australian passports were used by the team responsible for the killing.
That development came six years after Barkan fled New Zealand for Israel in the wake of a passport scam that caused a rift in New Zealand relations with the Jewish State. Two of his countrymen were arrested for stealing the identity of an Aucklander with cerebral palsy to fraudulently obtain a passport.
New Zealand imposed diplomatic sanctions against Israel and suspended high-level contacts between the two countries following the July 2004 passport fraud convictions of Israelis Uriel Zosha Kelman and Eli Cara. Speculation was that the men were Mossad agents.
New Zealand police allege Barkan was the one who actually tried to get the passport.
Tony Resnick, a former paramedic with St John Ambulance, was also believed to have been involved. He spent some time working in Israel and was a "person of interest" to police. He resigned from his job and left the country without warning in March 2004.
Barkan is also believed to have left New Zealand before Kelman and Cara were caught.
In reaction, then prime minister Helen Clark cancelled a planned visit to New Zealand in August by then Israeli president Moshe Katzav, delayed approval for a new Israeli ambassador to New Zealand, and said the case had "seriously strained our relationship".
A year later, Israeli foreign minister Silvan Shalom expressed sorrow, and said Israel would work to repair it. Dr Alon Liel, former director-general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, said Israel had to protest the sanctions, "for if not, it's a silent admission that the two men worked for the Mossad".
Meanwhile, Kelman and Cara, who denied membership of Mossad but pleaded guilty to trying to enter the country illegally and working with organised criminal gangs, were sentenced to six months' jail.
Cara, who visited New Zealand 24 times between October 2000 and March 2004, claims he was working as a travel agent.
They were also ordered to pay reparation to a cerebral palsy charity because they tried to collect a passport in the name of a man with the condition. After serving three months they were deported.
Soon after the scandal broke in New Zealand, The Sydney Morning Herald reported Barkan, allegedly using a fraudulent Canadian passport, was possibly in North Korea.
The newspaper's source was quoted as a "New Zealand aid worker with intelligence connections in Asia".
The political strife and speculation deepened in early 2005 when it emerged Australia had secretly expelled a Canberra-based diplomat described as a "consul" in Israel.
Several weeks later, in February, the expulsion was revealed in an Israeli newspaper, Ma'ariv.
The newspaper speculated there might have been some connection with the New Zealand passport case.
One of the official duties of the Canberra diplomat was to visit the two Israelis in prison in New Zealand, to provide them with diplomatic services, the paper said. The pair had also spent considerable time in Australia, where there was speculation that they might have been on a similar mission.
In between times, Barkan did not go to ground. He was named by Cambodian media a year after disappearing from New Zealand as, along with accomplices, running a studio making snuff and porn movies in the Mekong River town of Pen Yauin in Cambodia.
In a professional studio, girls from New Zealand and Australia students and tourists were lured into thinking they were to become movie stars.
At first they made porn films in studios in Phnom Phen behind a local bar before branching out into films of hangings and executions of city vagrants, followed by suicide films.
Almost six years later, the scandal would rear its head again when in December cables released by WikiLeaks said United States diplomats disparaged New Zealand's reaction to the suspected spy ring as a "flap" and accused New Zealand's government of grandstanding in order to sell more lamb to Arab countries.
US officials in Wellington told their colleagues in Washington that New Zealand had "little to lose" from the breakdown in diplomatic relations with Israel and was instead merely trying to bolster its exports to Arab states.
Claims the men were Mossad agents were not pursued in court, the US cable noted.
The cables revealed the US believed allegations the men were spies: "While Prime Minister Helen Clark would not confirm which service employed the men, she noted that if one were to lay espionage charges then one would have to be prepared to offer the kind of evidence in court which our intelligence agencies do not like coming forward to display.
"We [the US] have very strong grounds for believing these are Israeli intelligence agents," the cable said.
In the wake of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh's killing Australia expelled an official from the Israeli embassy.
The move was prompted by an investigation into how the Australian passports were used by the team that carried out the killing of the Hamas operative and confirmation the documents were forgeries.
- The Southland Times