Ireland: Dubai hit put our citizens at risk
FM Martin says scheduled meeting with Israeli ambassador to Dublin will be 'frank'; claims use of forged Irish passports by al-Mabhouh assassins jeopardized security of two citizens
Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal Martin said Thursday that the recent assassination of senior Hamas figure Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai had jeopardized the security of two Irish citizens due to the assassins' alleged use of their passport details.
Martin told RTE Radio's Morning Ireland that his office, in collaboration with local security agencies, was trying to locate a third Irish citizen whose identity had been stolen by the Dubai hit squad.
An Irish Foreign Ministry spokesman said the two people, who live in Ireland, were shocked to learn that their passport numbers had been used.
Martin said the affair is being taken very seriously and a frank discussion will take place with Israeli Ambassador to Dublin Zion Evrony, adding that it appears that the passport numbers were randomly stolen from older, pre-2005 passports.
The British Foreign Office has also summoned the Israeli ambassador to London, Ron Prosor, to discuss the use of British passports by the alleged killers of al-Mabhouh.
It has been widely reported that Mossad agents were behind the assassination.
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On Wednesday Martin announced that further information had been received from the authorities in the United Arab Emirates concerning reports of the use of fake Irish passports in Dubai. He said the new information confirms that the passports used were fraudulent.
"Genuine Irish passport numbers were used. These numbers correspond to actual numbers on three legitimate Irish passports. However, the identities of the persons recorded on the forged passports do not correspond to those recorded on the valid passports carrying the same numbers," he said.
RTE quote former Liberal Democrat leader Menzies Campbell as saying that Israeli involvement in the hit would be 'a serious violation of trust between nations'.
"Given the current speculation, the Israeli government has some explaining to do and the ambassador should be summoned to the Foreign Office to do so in double-quick time," he said.
