David Miliband, the foreign secretary, said an investigation by the Serious Organized Crime Authority had concluded that there were “compelling reasons” to believe responsibility for the “misuse” of a dozen passports lay with the Israelis.

The passports were forged while their holders were passing through airports in the region, and the counterfeit documents used by a hit squad suspected of murdering a Hamas commander in Dubai.
In a statement to MPs, Miliband said that he had asked the Israeli Embassy to send home a “senior diplomat,” widely believed to be a Mossad operative connected to the plot.
The foreign secretary refused to confirm the Mossad link, but added: “The request for an individual to leave, and the decision of the Israelis to accede to that, was made by us. It was linked ... to the investigations that have taken place.
“We’ve been very clear with the Israelis about the basis which we were asking the individual to leave.”
The expulsion was welcomed by Hamas officials in the Palestinian territories, but criticized by Israel, with some legislators accusing Britain of anti-Semitism.
Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a Hamas commander, was assassinated in his luxury hotel room in January by a team of killers who were captured on security cameras wearing fake beards, wigs and other disguises.
Dubai officials have said that they are “99 percent certain” that Mossad agents were behind the murder but Israel has refused to confirm or deny the link. Telling MPs that British sovereignty had been compromised by the operation, Miliband revealed that he had demanded written confirmation from the Israeli government that the safety of UK citizens would never again be put at risk. The foreign secretary confirmed that Britain had no advance knowledge of the operation to clone passports while their holders were travelling through Israel and other countries. Other passports were stolen from Irish, German, Australian and French citizens.
Describing the passport holders as “wholly innocent victims,” the foreign secretary said that the misuse of passports represented a: “hazard for the safety of British nationals in the region.
He added: “It also represents a profound disregard for the sovereignty of the United Kingdom.
“The fact that this was done by a country which is a friend, with significant diplomatic, cultural, business and personal ties to the UK, only adds insult to injury.”
Members of the Israeli parliament likened the British government to “anti-Semitic dogs” and demanded the expulsion of Britain’s military attaché in Tel Aviv.
“I think the British are being hypocritical, and I do not wish to insult dogs here, since some dogs show true loyalty,
[but] who gave the British the right to judge us on the war on terror?” said Arieh Eldad, a right-wing member of the Knesset.
Michael Ben-Ari added: “We have learned that a dog must be called by its name. This is anti-Semitism disguised as anti-Zionism.”
The expulsion was welcomed in Gaza, however. In a statement, Salah al-Bardawil, a senior Hamas official, said: “We in Hamas welcome the British position and the decision to expel the Mossad official in the Zionist embassy for his role in the criminal assassination.”
Miliband disclosed that 11 of the 12 British citizens involved in the cloning operation had now received new, biometric passports.
(Source: Telegraph.co.uk)