In a rare move by a friendly government, Britain expelled an Israeli diplomat on Tuesday to rebuke the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for what it says was the fraudulent use of a dozen fake British passports in the assassination of a Hamas official in a Dubai hotel earlier this year.The British really are sticklers for the law, being so upset that alleged spies can even consider using fake passports from another country. Good for them, for being so principled.
David Miliband, the British foreign secretary, said there were “compelling reasons” suggesting that Israel was behind the misuse of the British passports and called Israel’s actions “intolerable.”
“The fact that this was done by a friendly country only adds insult to injury,” he said in remarks to the House of Commons. “The actions in this case are completely unacceptable and they must stop.”
A host of other lawmakers used even harsher language to excoriate Israel on the floor of Parliament, calling for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador, urging criminal prosecution of those involved and going so far as to say that Israel was becoming a “rogue state.”
Today:
Libyan rebels have released a British special forces team who were detained when a mission to contact opponents of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi went wrong, it was revealed tonight.The BBC says the passports were from at least four different nationalities.
The eight-strong group, who were escorting a junior diplomat, has now left the country bound for Malta on board HMS Cumberland.
...According to reports, guards challenged the SAS team when they arrived at an agricultural compound in the eastern city of Benghazi.
They were detained after a search of their bags revealed ammunition, explosives, maps and fake passports.
I can't wait to see the debate in the halls of Parliament calling the agency responsible for account. After all, we know that the British would never be hypocritical towards Israel or anything like that.
(h/t Mike)
(Looks like Melanie beat me to this)