Hamas: Aiding Zionist enemy will end in confrontation
Mahmoud al-Zahar warns West against aiding Israel following assassination of movement's operative Mahmoud al-Mabhouh last month. Meanwhile, Senior Israeli official tells AFP 'Dubai police have provided no incriminating proof' in investigation into killing, adds 'Threats against Mossad chief Meir Dagan are absurd, baseless'
Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar warned the West against assisting Israel, following the assassination of one of the Islamist movement's official Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai last month.
"If the West allows the Zionist enemy to turn its land into land where Palestinian Muslims are murdered, or leave from it to Arab countries to assassinate our people, then we will confront them as God compels us too: 'One evil for another'", he said at a sermon in a Gaza mosque Friday.
Meanwhile, Israel on Friday shrugged off calls for its top spy to be arrested in the killing of the Hamas commander, as pressure mounted after Interpol issued arrest warrants for 11 suspects in the Dubai hit.
"The Dubai police have provided no incriminating proof," a senior official told AFP, asking not to be identified.
The Dubai police chief said on Thursday he wanted Mossad chief Meir Dagan to be arrested if the agency is behind last month's killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.
"The threats against Meir Dagan are absurd," the Israeli official said. "The accusations are baseless. Police have not explained the circumstances of his death, or even any proof that he's been assassinated," he said.
Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, one of the founders of Hamas's military wing, was found dead in his Dubai hotel room on January 20. Police said Mabhouh, who was reportedly on a trip to buy arms for Hamas, was transiting on his way to China, then Sudan.
No government has directly accused Israel, although Dubai police chief Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim said he was near certain the hit was carried out by the Mossad, Israel's fabled foreign espionage agency which has used fake passports in similar operations in the past.
Interpol on Thursday issued arrest notices for 11 suspects - six listed with British passports, three Irish, one French and one German - wanted by Dubai for the killing.
The killers' use of allegedly fake passports prompted Britain, Ireland, France and Germany on Thursday to call in Israeli envoys for talks at their foreign ministries.
The Israeli official played down the issue. "Israel was only asked to help investigate the use of the fake passports."
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Thursday stressed the need for a "full investigation," while Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin announced "frank" talks with Israel's envoy - usually diplomatic code for angry exchanges.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman will face tough questioning on Monday when he meets European counterparts in Brussels, in a trip that was planned before the Dubai murder.
AFP and Reuters contributed to this report
