THE TELEGRAPH: Britain will expel an Israeli diplomat over the use of cloned British passports in the killing of a senior Hamas commander in Dubai.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband is due to address Parliament on Tuesday afternoon on the issue.
A government official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment ahead of the statement, says Britain will expel one Israeli diplomat.
Ron Proser, the Israeli Ambassador to London, was summoned to the Foreign Office on Monday to be told the results of an inquiry into the murder of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, whose body was discovered in a luxury Dubai hotel room on January 20.
Several members of the team suspected of killing him were found to be travelling on passports cloned from documents belonging to British citizens living in Israel. Other passports had been stolen from Irish, German, Australian and French citizens.
A senior Israeli diplomat would be expelled as a mark of the “anger” within the Government that British passport holders had been put at risk as a result of the operation.
A ministerial statement to be made to Parliament on Tuesday will formally name the Israeli security services as responsible for the cloning of up to 15 British passports, which were copied after being taken away by airport officials. >>> Rosa Prince, Political Correspondent | Tuesday, March 23, 2010
