The Israeli ambassador to Ireland insisted today he knows nothing about the killing of a Hamas commander blamed on his country’s secret service.
After an hour-long meeting with officials in the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin this morning, Dr Zion Evrony said he was under no obligation to address the international incident in public.
“I was invited to a meeting with the Secretary General (David) Cooney. I told him I don’t know anything about the event - beyond that it is not customary to share the content of diplomatic meetings,” he said.
Dr Evrony had been summoned to the Department to explain why three genuine Irish passport numbers were on forged papers used by the hit squad which killed Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai.
They were among 11 European identity papers revealed by police as blame centred on agents from Israel’s Mossad secret service.
Dr Evrony made the comment as he was hurried out of Iveagh House and refused to answer any further questions.
Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Affairs said they have contacted two of the three Irish citizens whose legitimate passport numbers were discovered to be the same as those on fake Irish passports
The identities of the people recorded on the forged passports do not correspond to those recorded on the valid passports carrying the same numbers officials said.
Speaking on RTÉ radio this morning Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin described the incident as “extremely serious” and one that puts the “security of Irish citizens at risk.”
He said officials are working with gardaí to try and contact the third person.
Two of the people were due to travel abroad this weekend and the Minister said it is likely they would have been taken into custody “because Interpol would be on red alert”.
Mr Martin said he will be putting “fairly direct questions” to the ambassador and seek clarification over the speculation that Israel’s security service Mossad was behind the murder.
He said: “I think we will have a frank discussion with the ambassador.
“We will ask if he can assist and if he can clarify and what’s the Israeli government’s position on all this in relation to all the various speculation that is out there.
“It’s not for me to make declarations when there are inquiries underway but certainly we want to get answers as soon as we can.
“We have invested very heavily in the security of the Irish passport, it’s a very important document with significant internationally credibility.
“Events like this undermine that and most importantly put the security of Irish citizens at risk.”
Mr Martin said he is working closely with the other European countries affected by this as well.
This week Dubai police released the names and photographs of 11 suspects they say were involved in the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, who was found dead in his hotel room last month. They claimed six carried British passports, three had Irish passports, and the others used passports from Germany and France.
The Israeli ambassador to Britain is also due to face questions in the foreign office today.
Additional reporting PA
