Mahmoud al-Mabhouh

Mahmoud al-Mabhouh
Born	14 February 1960 Jabalia Camp, Gaza Strip
Died	19 January 2010 (Age 49) Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Victim of	murder
A senior Hamas military commander and one of the founders of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. He was murdered in his hotel room at the 5 star Rotana Hotel in Dubai having arrived in the country earlier that day from Syria.

Mahmoud Abdel Rauf al-Mabhouh was the chief of logistics and weapons procurement for Hamas's military wing. He is remembered for his assassination in Dubai (widely seen as an operation by Mossad, the Israeli foreign intelligence agency) and the diplomatic crisis his assassination triggered after Mossad agents allegedly used forged foreign passports to carry out the killing.

Assassination

The Dubai Authorities quickly identified 11 suspects in the murder. Each had entered and departed Dubai on false/forged passports of German, UK, French, Australian and Irish origin. The names of the passports were all of people who were either dual nationality Israelis or who had visited Israel recently. Many were caught on Dubai's comprehensive CCTV surveillance cameras. The video footage, passport photographs and other information about the eleven were quickly circulated throughout the world.

The overwhelming balance of evidence presented to date (June 2010) points to the murder being a carefully planned operation of the Israeli Mossad. Israel has pointedly refused to confirm or deny their involvement.

On 4 June 2010 Polish authorities arrested an alleged Israeli spy using the pseudonym 'Uri Brodsky' , in connection with the murder. The arrest was on a European warrant issued by Germany. Brodsky was ordered to remain in custody for forty days pending proceedings for his extradition to Germany in connection to the forging of a German passport allegedly connected to the murder. German newspaper Der Speigel reported that the Israeli Embassy has urged Polish authorities against Brodsky's extradition. Israel's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Andrew David, has said, "At the moment, we are looking into that, as with arrested Israeli, he's getting consular treatment."

External Links

• Deep Politics Forum Discussion
• Suspect in Dubai assassination used identity of fallen IDF soldier
• Key suspect arrested in Mabhouh killing - Press TV 11 October 2010. This may refer to Uri Brodsky - arrested in Poland, extradited to Germany; then released (See Haaretz report below). Or it may be something new.
• German government denies influencing bail of suspected Mossad agent - Haaretz 21 August 2010. ("Decision to release Uri Brodsky, extradited from Poland on charges of forging passport used in the assassination of a Hamas chief, was 'purely judicial'".) - Read it and see if you can keep a straight face
• Mossad 'issued death threats' to Dubai police chief AFP 30 September 2010

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