Germans Seek Extradition of Alleged Mossad Agent

BERLIN (June 14) -- In another twist in the alleged involvement of Israel's Mossad spy service in the killing of a Hamas leader, Germany is demanding extradition of Uri Brodsky, a suspected Mossad agent who is being held in Poland.

German prosecutors have confirmed that they issued a European arrest warrant for Brodsky on accusations of espionage. Brodsky was arrested June 4 when he arrived on an international flight at the Warsaw airport. Israel is believed to have urged Poland to quietly turn Brodsky over to it rather than to the Germans.

"The prosecutor's office will request extradition in front of the court in Warsaw," said Monika Lewandowska, spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office in Karlsruhe.

According to the Germans, Brodsky helped another alleged Mossad agent obtain a German passport in Cologne under false pretenses in early 2009, using the name Michael Bodenheimer. Bodenheimer, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, is a Bnei Brak rabbi living in Israel and is entitled to a passport because his grandparents were German.

Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a Hamas leader, was killed in Dubai in January, allegedly the victim of a plot involving nearly 30 Mossad agents. A person traveling with the Bodenheimer passport entered Dubai shortly before the killing of the Hamas leader and left Dubai again shortly afterward.

Mabhouh was born in the Gaza Strip and had lived in Syria since 1989. He is believed to have held a key role in smuggling Iranian-funded arms to Palestinian militants in Gaza.

Dubai alleges that Israel's Mossad masterminded and carried out the killing of the Hamas commander, releasing the names of more than two dozen people it alleges were part of a hit squad that tracked down and killed the Palestinian fighter. Dubai officials have said the accused agents used fraudulent British, Irish, French, German and Australian passports.

Israel has declined to comment on the allegations that it was behind the killing.

German prosecutors issued a European arrest warrant when details of the plot emerged showing that a German passport had been obtained illegally.

The Germans do not allege that Brodsky was involved in the plot to kill Mabhouh, but want to prosecute him for espionage and obtaining an official document by fraud, crimes that could carry a prison sentence of up to five years.

Brodsky's arrest may not have raised much attention had the German weekly Der Spiegel not reported it over the weekend, leading Polish media to suspect that German authorities leaked the news to force Poland to extradite him to Germany.

Judging by the response in the Polish media, the situation is quite delicate for Warsaw. Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza reported on the affair with the headline "Poland Caught Between Germany and Israel."

Handing Brodsky over to the Germans would damage Poland's relationship with Israel, and letting him go would violate European Union law and anger the Germans, the paper commented.

According to another Polish newspaper, Rzeczpospolita, the Polish authorities had seriously considered quietly releasing Brodsky to Israel, but that plan was foiled by the release of the article in Der Spiegel.