Friday, March 26, 2010

Israeli British relations are severely strained

Israel is in a tight spot these days. It has ticked off two of its most prominent allies. The United States has made no secret of its pique over Israel's calculated (I use the word deliberately) insult of Vice-President Biden during his recent visit there. As noted in the preceding post President Obama communicated very clearly his deep anger over Israeli intransigence and their offensive behavior towards an ally during the recent visit by PM Binyamin Netanyahu to Washington.

However it is not just the United States that are seriously annoyed with Israel right now. Great Britain, another long standing ally, is furious that the Israeli secret intelligence service Mossad used at least a dozen fraudulent British passports for members of their murder squad sent to assassinate Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai in January. Mr. Mabhouh was allegedly a high ranking member of Hamas, a terrorist organization.

Israel's refusal to even discuss the matter so angered the British that they have taken the extremely unusual step of expelling an Israeli diplomat believed to be the London station chief of Mossad. Britain is demanding assurances from Israel that they will not forge or otherwise abuse British passports in the future. Thus far Israel has failed to respond to the demands which Britain has labeled as non-negotiable.

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