Dubai Seeks Israeli PM's Arrest Over Hotel Murder

(March 3) – Dubai police say they'll seek an arrest warrant for Israel's prime minister and spy chief over the mafia-style murder of a top Hamas leader in a luxury hotel in the Gulf city-state.

The Jan. 19 assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, one of the founders of the Palestinian Islamist group's military wing, sent shock waves out from the Middle East because of its brazen nature and revelations that his killers stole unsuspecting Europeans' identities to commit the crime. Investigators are unraveling a hit squad of at least 26 assassins who traveled on stolen British, Irish and French passports, dressed in elaborate disguises with wigs and tennis rackets and drugged, then suffocated al-Mabhouh in his hotel suite.

Al-Mabhouh was one of Israel's most-wanted suspects, for alleged involvement in the 1989 killing of two Israeli soldiers as well as ongoing weapons smuggling to Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip. Israel has stayed mum on his death, but its Mossad spy agency is widely believed to have been behind it.

Dubai police chief Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim told reporters Tuesday that he's "now completely sure that it was Mossad."

"I have presented the [Dubai] prosecutor with a request for the arrest of [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and the head of Mossad," Meir Dagan, Tamim said. He said Mossad "insulted" both Dubai for carrying out an illegal assassination on its soil, as well as all the Western countries whose nationalities were stolen in the plot.

Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement in the killing. Even if Dubai issues an arrest warrant for Netanyahu, it's unlikely the Israeli prime minister will ever be taken into custody. Without formal relations between the two countries, Netanyahu has no reason to travel to the UAE, and other countries are unlikely to arrest and extradite him to Dubai.

The probe into al-Mabhouh's killing has been a watershed for Dubai, an Arab city-state that's ruled by conservative Muslim sheiks but has a reputation as a liberal playground of the Middle East. It's long been under pressure from more conservative Arab neighbors to crack down on activities deemed un-Islamic – alcohol, nightclubs and dalliances with Israel. In 2008, it made a show of reinforcing its conservative credentials by jailing a British couple for allegedly having sex on a Dubai beach.

The United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is part, is a U.S. ally with no formal relations with Israel. But Dubai has established low-level political ties and trade links with Israel, and some Israeli officials have traveled to the emirate for academic conferences and other events in recent years. Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer competed in the Dubai Championships last month.

Israelis are not permitted entry to the UAE, but Dubai has been more lax about doing business with Israel than the Jewish state's other Arab foes, and it has turned a blind eye to the passage of dual-national Israelis who travel on other countries' passports. Dual citizenship is very common in Israel.

But earlier this week, Dubai's police chief announced an end to that practice. He said Israelis would be barred from entering Dubai even if they're traveling on a second passport. Asked how authorities might identify them, Tamim told reporters: "Among the things we will train our people [to do] is to identify Israeli names, accents as well as features."

"We knew Israelis from their accents, but when they used European passports to come here, we accepted that and we treated them as Europeans," he said. "But after this day, if they have dual citizenship, we will exert extreme caution."

It's all part of Dubai's efforts to flex its muscles against Israel in a bid to boost its standing among its conservative Arab neighbors – especially with those able to help Dubai out of bankruptcy. Its sister emirate Abu Dhabi, which has fared much better in the global economic downturn and has guaranteed billions to save Dubai's economy, has a long history of pressuring its wilder neighbor to be more Islamic and conservative.

Israel faced a similar situation last year when a British court issued an arrest warrant for opposition leader Tzipi Livni, who served as foreign minister during an Israeli offensive into Gaza for which Israel was accused of war crimes. She canceled an official visit to Britain over the matter.

Police say al-Mabhouh's assassins entered Dubai on fake passports using the identities of 12 people from Britain, six from Ireland, four from France, three Australians and a German, and fled right after the killing. Two of the suspects then traveled to the United States after passing through an unnamed European country, Tamim said. All of them are believed to be hiding in Israel now to avoid arrest, he added.

Israeli media have reported with the assumption that Mossad was responsible for al-Mabhouh's death. Aside from an impending arrest warrant for Netanyahu, the use of foreign passports in the plot has created a headache for the Israeli government, scrambling to answer to criticism from allies like Britain, France and Australia.

Australia sent a police team to Israel this week to seek answers for its nationals' stolen identities. The passport abuse has also drawn criticism from the European Union, and some of the governments involved have summoned the Israeli ambassadors to their countries to protest.