DUBAI HAS banned Israelis, including those with dual citizenship, from entering the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The punitive measure is in response to the assassination of Hamas militant Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in a Dubai hotel, an act blamed by local police on the Israeli Mossad spy agency.
Dubai’s police chief, Lieut Gen Dahi Khalfan Tamim, made it clear that anyone suspected of being an Israeli would not be allowed to enter the country. However, it is unclear if the ban includes Israelis participating in international sporting events held in the UAE.
Mr Tamim charged the Mossad with insulting Dubai as well as countries, including Ireland, whose forged passports were allegedly used by its agents.
The Dubai police chief also said a 27th member of the team that killed al-Mabhouh had been identified, saying only that she was a woman.
“Mossad shouldn’t come to us. We haven’t done anything to Israel. This is an insult to us, to Britain, to Australia, to Germany and to New Zealand and its shameful,” he told reporters in Dubai, a member of the UAE.
Israel is still refusing to confirm or deny it was behind the assassination, despite the fact that the identities on many of the passports used by the suspects are of Israeli citizens who hold dual nationality.
All the Israelis in question have denied Mossad links, claiming their identities were stolen.
Israeli trade minister Benjamin Ben Eliezer said he didn’t know if Israel was responsible, but he denied the operation was a failure.
Mr Ben Eliezer told army radio: “The question is, what this man’s value was, and what this achieved? Assuming that he was of great value, the organisation knows one thing – there is no one who can’t be caught up with or can’t be reached. For me, this is deterrence.”
The Wall Street Journalreported yesterday that the suspect carrying an Irish passport in the name of Evan Dennings entered the US on February 21st, a day after the murder, while a second, a UK passport holder called Roy Allan Cannon, arrived on American soil on February 14th.
It wasn’t clear from where either man was travelling. Dubai authorities have previously said the suspect travelling as Mr Dennings left Dubai on January 20th on his way to Zurich.
Three Australian police officers are expected in Israel in the coming days to question several immigrants from Australia whose names have been connected to the assassination.
Australia has said it was not satisfied with the explanation of the Israeli envoy to Canberra about the use of three fraudulent Australian passports in the murder.
The Australian authorities had reportedly approached Israel in the 1990s to seek assurances that its passports would not be used in Mossad activities after it was feared Israel had doctored New Zealand passports.
Investigators from Britain’s Serious Organized Crime Agency have begun interviewing dual nationals whose names were used on British forged passports tied to the killing.
Meanwhile, police officials in Dubai said at the weekend that tests indicated that a substantial amount of a fast-acting muscle relaxant called succinylcholine was found in Mahmoud al-Mabhouh’s bloodstream.
The drug is sometimes used to administer a breathing tube or anaesthesia.