Incoming chief Tamir Pardo
Photo: Ido Erez
Report: Mossad chief to apologize to Britain
Telegraph report says new chief will apologize for use of fake passports in Mabhouh assassination
Tamir Pardo, who is set to take over the role of Mossad chief this week, will apologize to the British government for the agency's use of fraudulent passports in carrying out its assassination of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in January, the Telegraph reported Saturday.
Gordon Thomas, who has previously written a book on the Mossad, wrote in Saturday's report that Pardo will vow the agency will never again forge official British documents.
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The report cites "Mossad insiders" who say Pardo will deliver his vow in private meetings with Foreign Secretary William Hague and Home Secretary Theresa May.
The move is designed to rehabilitate ties with the British government, which were harmed by the use of the passports.
Britain expelled its Mossad representative in March, after an investigation revealed that the agency had forged 12 British passports as part of its creation of 26 identities for agents sent to assassinate Mabhouh in Dubai.
Former Foreign Secretary David Milliband remarked then that Israel had shown "profound disregard" for British sovereignty. "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," he added.
Pardo was formerly deputy to Meir Dagan, currently Mossad chief. The Telegraph cites agency sources as saying that he objected to using fake British, Australian, and Irish passports though he left his post in June of 2009, six months before the assassination.
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