LONDON - Britain expelled an Israeli diplomat for the first time in more than 20 years on Tuesday after concluding there was compelling evidence that Israel was responsible for the use of forged British passports in a plot to slay a senior Hamas operative in Dubai.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said trust between the two countries had been badly dented, demanded formal assurances there would be no repeat of the incident and -- in an unusual step -- issued travel advice to British citizens warning that their identity details might be at risk if they visited Israel.
Miliband told the House of Commons that the expelled diplomat, who has not been named, was removed following an investigation into the use of 12 fake British passports by suspects in the Jan. 20 slaying in Dubai.
Britain's Serious and Organized Crime Agency found that the forged British passports were copies of authentic documents handed to Israeli officials for inspection either in Israel or other countries, Miliband said. He said the fakes were high-quality and almost certainly "made by a state intelligence service."
"The actions in this case are completely unacceptable, and they must stop," Miliband said.
However, he insisted that Britain had drawn no conclusions about who was responsible for the killing of Hamas' Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, saying investigation by Dubai authorities was continuing.
Dubai officials accuse Israel's Mossad intelligence agency of carrying out Al-Mabhouh's killing in a luxury hotel room and have identified at least 26 suspects in an alleged hit squad whose members used forged European and Australian passports.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
