Marty Roberts
Staying Real in Israel
"The Marty Roberts Show"

British officials, facing general elections soon, are willing to throw one of their close allies, Israel, under the bus. Word has it that the UK security agents are none too happy about interfering with cooperation with Israeli security when it comes to fighting world Islamic terrorism, a major threat to the Brits as well as the Israelis…

A photograph released by the Dubai police in February shows the British passport of one of the 26 suspects …

Gov’t kicks out Israeli diplomat in passport row


The government has kicked out an Israeli diplomat over the “intolerable” use of fake British passports in the killing of a Hamas chief, in a sharp escalation of tension over the murder.

Reprinted from AFP

Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said he was “very disappointed” by the expulsion on Tuesday, but a senior official said the Jewish state would not retaliate.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband said there were “compelling reasons” to suggest that Israel was behind the forgeries used by the team which killed Mahmud al-Mabhuh in Dubai in January.

“I’ve asked that a member of the embassy of Israel be withdrawn from the UK as a result of this affair and this is taking place,” he told lawmakers.

“There are compelling reasons to believe that Israel was responsible for the misuse of the British passports… The government takes this matter extremely seriously. Such misuse of British passports is intolerable.”

The foreign secretary declined to specify the position of the expelled diplomat, but reports in the Times and Telegraph said the individual was a senior Mossad agent, without citing sources.

The person was believed to be the Israeli spy agency’s station chief in London, said the papers.

A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office declined to comment on the reports.

Mossad has been widely blamed for the assassination of the Hamas chief but Israel maintains there is no proof for this claim.

Hamas hailed the expulsion and said it hoped Israeli leaders would eventually be brought to trial over the case.

Dubai police in February released photographs and names of European passport holders alleged to have been members of the hit squad.

The suspects used the identities of 12 people from Britain, as well as people from Australia, France, Germany and Ireland. Interpol has issued arrest notices for 27 suspects wanted by Dubai in connection with the killing.

Also Tuesday, a French prosecutor announced an investigation into the use of four fake French passports in the Hamas hit.

And in Berlin, a spokesman from the federal prosecutor’s office said a probe had been launched more than a month ago into a fake German passport used in the murder.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s spokesman said the Israeli diplomat had technically been “asked to withdraw” from Britain, adding that he had been given two weeks to leave.

The announcement came after Israeli ambassador Ron Prosor was called in again to the Foreign Office on Monday, and briefed on the results of an investigation by the Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA).

Miliband said SOCA had established that 12 British passport holders identified by Dubai police were “wholly innocent victims of identity theft”.

The passports were copied “when handed over for inspection to individuals linked to Israel, either in Israel or in other countries”, he said.

“Given that this was a very sophisticated operation in which high-quality forgeries were made, the government judges it is highly likely that the forgeries were made by a state intelligence service,” he said.

Miliband met Lieberman in Brussels on Monday and asked for a formal pledge that in future “the state of Israel would never be party to the misuse of British passports in such a way”, he said.

Lieberman said in a statement that while he wanted to maintain cordial relations with London, “no proof of Israeli involvement in this affair has been provided to us.”

Meanwhile a senior Israeli official told AFP that the priority was to “calm things down”.

“We have no intention of expelling a British diplomat in response to London’s decision,” the official said, asking not to be identified.

The Foreign Office has amended its official travel advice for Israel, warning British visitors about the risk to their passports and identities.

Relations between Britain and Israel were strained even before the passport row, notably after a London court issued an arrest warrant for former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni.

Livni reportedly cancelled a trip to Britain in December for fear of being arrested under the warrant, issued over her role in Israel’s 22-day war against the Hamas-rule Gaza Strip launched at the end of 2008.

Israel is also embroiled in a separate row with another ally, the US, after the Jewish state announced plans for the construction of settler homes in east Jerusalem while American Vice President Joe Biden was visiting the country.

What a cheap shot at vote-getting for the British elections…And what a sorry state of affairs it is that a candidate can garner votes in Great Britain, a Western democracy, by trying to humiliate Israel, another Western democracy and close ally.
The absurdity is heightened when you realize that if, indeed, it WAS Israel that eliminated the arch-terrorist Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai, it ws probably almost as great a service for the Brits as the Israelis. They have relied upon cooperation with Israeli security agencies in the past in our mutual war on terror, and will continue to need Israeli cooperation in the future. This might be a classic “cut off your nose to spite your face” scenario for Great Britain.
By the way, the Mossad should be receiving an international award if they WERE the ones taking out the terrorist trash in Dubai…but we’ll never know now, will we?

Mr Miliband took the decision after an investigation by British Police

Britain to expel Mossad’s man in London over Dubai assassination


Mossad’s representative at the Israel embassy in London is being expelled over the use of cloned British passports in the killing of a senior Hamas commander in Dubai

Reprinted from Telegraph.co.uk Rosa Prince

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. Sources disclosed that the individual is Mossad’s London representative.

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.

Mr Miliband has pulled out of an event at the Israeli Embassy this afternoon, where he was due to be the guest of honour at a “housewarming party” to mark the the opening of its new building in Kensington, central London.

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.

The statement will say that it proved impossible to confirm definitively whether Mossad, the Israeli secret intelligence service, was responsible for the operation, with suspicion also resting on the Military Intelligence Directorate.

But the probe had determined for certain that the passports were cloned when British citizens passed through airports on their way into Israel, with officials taking them away for “checks” which lasted around 20 minutes.

Foreign Office sources expressed frustration that there was little more that could be done to “punish” Israel over the affair.

A number of those whose passports were stolen had dual British and Israeli nationality.

They include Gabriella Barney, 23, and her father Michael, 54, along with Daniel Marc Schnur, 32, Roy Allan Cannon, 62, Stephen Keith Drake, 54, Mark Daniel Sklar, 30, and Philip Carr, 35.

A number of the innocent passport holders have expressed concern and upset that their identities were used for the assassination of a senior Hamas commander, which was carried out by a team of at least 23 operatives.

Israel has refused to confirm or deny any involvement in the audacious murder, insisting that it has a “policy of ambiguity”.

The suspects, including a number of women, were filmed on security cameras strolling through hotel lobbies disguised as tourists wearing tennis clothes.

They followed al-Mabhouh to his hotel room, where he was found suffocated hours later.

Oh, yeah…Dubai is a country that I REALLY want to visit, quite the vacation destination, it seems.
Not that they would even let me in, anyway, being Jewish and a citizen of Israel and all. I COULD always use my US passport. Those ads on CNN make it look Oh, so inviting…
I think that I could abstain from having sex in public for the duration of my visit, but I don’t know about not drinking any alcohol. One month in jail for the public kiss, but I guess the moonshine is a lesser charge.
I wonder if it was really the Israeli Mossad kissing in public…in disguise, of course…

British kissing couple awaits jail verdict in Dubai


A British couple accused of kissing in public in the Muslim emirate of Dubai will find out next month if an appeals court will uphold their one-month prison sentence, their lawyer said on Sunday.

Reprinted from Google.com News

The couple is accused of “committing a sexual act (by) kissing on the lips and touching,” lawyer Khalaf al-Hosani told AFP. “A final verdict will be reached on April 4,” by the Misdemeanours Appeals Court, he said.

The two, named by the press as Ayman Najafi, 24, a British expat in Dubai, and British tourist Charlotte Lewis, 25, were arrested in November, after an Emirati woman accused them of kissing in a restaurant in the trendy Jumeirah Beach Residence neighbourhood.

They are also accused of consuming alcohol, a charge to which they pleaded guilty, but said they only kissed on the cheek.

They were convicted in January and sentenced to one month in prison. But they have been on bail since their arrest, with their passports held by the authorities, Hosani said.

The lawyer said he told court that the only witness, a 38-year-old Emirati woman, has presented different statements.

“She told the police that she saw them kissing, while she told the prosecution that her children saw them,” he said, adding that the defence is arguing that the couple only kissed on the cheek “as a greeting” which is allowed.

British embassy spokesman, Simon Goldsmith, said the UK mission was “aware of the arrest of a British national on November 27,” and that “consular assistance was provided at the time,” but declined to provide further details.

Dubai is a popular destination for British tourists. Around 1.1 million British nationals visited the United Arab Emirates in 2009, but the city state still adheres to certain strict Islamic rules, and bans sex outside marriage.

More than 100,000 British nationals live in the UAE.

From Dubai, of all places…
Kind of ironic..Dubai/UAE STILL does not recognize the State of Israel even exists…But I SURE seem to be hearing an awful lot of Dubai stuff in the news these days…
BTW…Just one more blow to those claiming apartheid exists in Israel…Sure doesn’t look like it from this, does it?…

Israeli cricket wins Dubai prize

Israel Cricket Association cited for cross-border program bringing together Jews, Bedouins

Reprinted from YNet News Anat Shalev

The Dubai-based International Cricket Council has awarded the Israel Cricket Association with a prize for a cross-border initiative bringing together Jews and Bedouins in the southern Negev desert.

The winning project was initiated by Stanley Perlman, the Israel Cricket Association’s chairman.

The Association’s director, Naor Gudker, who is also an international umpire, told Ynet that cricket is among the top three sports in Asia and in many Arab states, including Pakistan and Dubai.

“A very high percentage of the managers, players, and coaches in global cricket are Muslims,” he said. “We do not feel that we are met with revulsion in Muslim states, such as Malaysia, where we played in 1997.”

Gudker expressed his excitement over the latest award, which joins a similar prize won by the Israeli association in 2001.

“It’s a huge achievement. It’s a project we promoted that was warmly received across the world,” he said. “This award in general and the project in particular are a good example of how cricket can bridge, bring compromise, and teach us to accept others.”

The next move is to make cricket accessible to Arab Israelis in Israel’s north, he said.

Gudker used the opportunity to criticize authorities for failing to offer cricket the support it deserves.

“Cricket is rather developed in Israel – there are 21 teams, school leagues, and youth leagues…in Beersheba, 2,000 kids are involved in projects related to the sports. Yet nonetheless, the State is unwilling to build a central cricket stadium and upgrade the sports to an international level,” he said.

Not to beat a dead horse.but REALLY.whoever killed the Hamas terrorist in Dubai deserves a medal..he (she?) is a major hero..But what do you expect from the European Union, anyway?…

EU

EU condemns Dubai killing and passports theft

Y-Net News

European Union foreign ministers condemned on Monday the use of forged European passports by assassins who killed a Palestinian militant in Dubai, but made no direct reference to Israel.

“The EU strongly condemns the fact that those involved in this action (assassination) used fraudulent EU member states’ passports and credit cards acquired through the theft of EU citizens’ identities,” a declaration on behalf of EU foreign ministers said. (Reuters)

The thing that I just do not get is, WHAT THE HECK IS ALL THE HUBUB ABOUT?

Whoever killed the arch-terrorist murder Hamas official did the world a HUGE favor. This guy was personally responsible for multiple murders of innocent people. He was the largest arms smuggler into Gaza, threatening the heart of Israel with long-range missiles from Iran. What is the big deal? He’s dead…GREAT!!!…Good riddance, and THANK YOU, WHOEVER did it…


Suspects wanted in connection with the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, clockwise from top left: Michael Lawrence Barney, James Leonard Clarke, Stephen Daniel Hodes, Paul John Keeley, Melvyn Adam Mildiner Photo: AP

Dubai assassination squad carried diplomatic passports

Police in Dubai said that some of the assassins involved in last month’s killing of a Hamas commander had entered the emirate carrying diplomatic passports.

By Adrian Blomfield in Jerusalem and Richard Spencer in Dubai
Published: 8:22PM GMT 21 Feb 2010

The claim will intensify the pressure on Israel, whose foreign minister is due to meet David Miliband and other European envoys in Brussels today. Avigdor Lieberman will face questions about allegations that Mossad agents posing as Europeans and travelling on false passports were behind the killing.

Providing fresh details yesterday about the identity of a second group involved in the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mahbhouh, Dubai’s police chief disclosed that up to three of the killers carried documents identifying themselves as foreign diplomats.
Read more »

Dubai doesn’t even recognize that Israel exists. Shahar Peer was barred from this tourney last year, even though she was one of the 30 top woman tennis players in the world. The UAE refused to grant her a visa, so she could not enter the country. Sweet revenge!!



Peer rolls into Dubai semis

Peer rolls into Dubai semis

Israeli tennis star continues superb performance, set to meet Venus Williams next

Associated Press
Published: 02.18.10, 21:20 /
A year after she was stopped from playing in the Dubai Championships, Israeli tennis star Shahar Peer is proving unstoppable in reaching the semifinals on Thursday.

Unseeded Peer beat her third seed in four matches when No. 8 Li Na, the Australian Open semifinalist, retired with back spasms. Peer was leading 7-5, 3-0.

Peer, who has also beaten No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki and No. 13 Yanina Wickmayer, will meet defending champion Venus Williams.

“I’m beating so many good players,” Peer said. “It’s really good and I’m happy by the way I’m playing. I think I’m playing very, very good, and everything is coming together. So I just hope to keep going.”

‘She’s so brave’
Peer, who was been surrounded by security and played only on the most secure court at Aviation Club, earned the admiration of Williams.

“She’s so brave and she’s got so much character. I can’t imagine being in her shoes,” Williams said.

“I can’t imagine playing so well with this kind of circumstance. I don’t think anyone else on tour could do what she’s doing.”

Last year, Peer’s visa was denied by the United Arab Emirates for security reasons, so the WTA Tour punished the tournament organizers with a heavy fine.

She’s into at least the semifinals for the third time this year.

What do Shahar Pe’er and the Israelis have to do with it?…Young female Israeli tennis sensation Shahar Peer is “killing” them all on the courts at the Dubai tennis open…She’s already made it to the quarter-finals…Ironic, after the UAE refused to even let her in to the country last year…They don’t recognize that Israel even exists!!!…The assassination of Hamas commander-terrorist Mahmoud Mahbouh in a Dubai luxury hotel last month is another story…Everyone cries “Mossad”, but mum’s the word from Israel…The incredible story of this successful assassination as the revelations get weirder and weirder…Plus…Israeli Deputy Prime minister Danny Ayalon refuses to meet with the anti-Israel lobby “J” Street and the US congressmen they have brought to the Middle East…What’s THAT all about?…All this and more on “The Marty Roberts Show”…

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How Ironic..World-ranked #22 tennis star Shahar Peer, who was not even allowed IN to Dubai last year because she is Israeli, advances in the tourney this year….

Tennis: Shahar Peer takes historic victory in Dubai

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