Expelling Israeli diplomat too weak, says family

THE family of a Palestinian leader assassinated in an alleged Israeli-linked plot have criticised the Government’s move to expel an Israeli diplomat as being too weak.

Ireland should have initiated legal action against Israeli officials for the use of forged Irish passports in the killing, said the family of Mahmoud Al Mabhouh.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner through an interpreter, the slain Hamas leader’s older brother, Hussain, said Ireland’s decision was not good enough.

“It was the minimum action that Ireland could do, to exile a person after the violation of the sovereignty of the country. We were expecting from Ireland to send him [an Israeli official] to the court, not only asking him to leave,” said the 56-year-old.

Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin said this week that an inquiry into the use of eight forged passports in the Dubai assassination had come to the “inescapable conclusion” that Israel was to blame.

He ordered the expulsion of a diplomat from the Israeli embassy, but said the official was not suspected of any wrongdoing.

The murdered Palestinian commander’s family had called on Ireland to expel the Israeli ambassador after the January 19 killing.

Al-Mabhouh’s brother, Hussain, who lives in the Jabaliya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, added: “I think the Irish reaction is very weak, it’s not the whole thing that Ireland can do.

“I think they have other options. They should try them. Using the country’s passports is a crime.”

Nonetheless, Ireland, Britain and Australia’s decision to expel diplomats over the alleged use of forged passports in the Dubai hotel killing had surprised Palestinians, added Hussain:

Israel yesterday announced the easing of its three-year blockade on Gaza following the recent international outcry over a deadly raid on an aid flotilla bound for the Palestinian enclave.