EU condemns use of false passports in Dubai hit

EU foreign ministers have slammed the January assassination of a Hamas commander as “profoundly disturbing,” saying the act harms peace and stability in the region.

The assassination, “cannot be conducive to peace and stability in the Middle East,” the 27-nation bloc stressed.

Israel was also put on the spot on Monday, as the European Union condemned the misuse of European passports by the killers of a Hamas commander in Dubai.

The bloc issued a joint statement, just before a meeting between EU foreign ministers and their Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman, who is reportedly in Brussels to end Israel’s silence on the scandal.

“We strongly condemn the use of fraudulent EU member states’ passports and credit cards acquired through the theft of EU citizens’ identities,” the statement said.

The statement’s timing seems to be addressing Israel’s secret service, Mossad. Dubai authorities say they are “99% certain” that the assassination was carried out by Mossad.

The killers of Hamas commander Mahmud al-Mabhouh had used fake British, Irish, French, and German passports, mainly duplicated from passports of people with dual nationality living in Israel.

On Saturday, Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon was confident that EU relations would not suffer as Israel had “nothing to do with it.”

This is while a report by The Sunday Times suggests that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had sanctioned the assassination in an early-January meeting with the head of Mossad Meir Dagan.

Dubai police have released the names and photos of 11 suspects, all alleged Mossad agents.