There are still many unanswered questions about the Mahmoud al-Mabhouh assassination, but one thing is clear: Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim, the Dubai police chief, really enjoys the media spotlight.
Tamim, who's had more airtime than Larry King over the last few weeks, called another press conference today to urge Mossad chief Meir Dagan to "be a man" and admit his organization killed Mabhouh. Tamim also admitted today that it will be "very difficult" to catch the killers without help from Western countries (عربي).
"I'm sure that all the suspects are in Israel right now... they will not be arrested if they stay in Israel, but eventually they will leave, and they will be arrested," he said.
Dubai police say the list of alleged killers has grown from 26 to 27. The 27th suspect is a woman, but Tamim won't identify her name or nationality. Police also said two of the killers visited the United States after the murder: One, a British passport holder, on Feb. 14; the other, an Irish passport holder, on Jan. 21, just two days after the assassination.
Security officials in Dubai say they're now "on the lookout" for Israelis at border crossings, and other countries in the region are doing the same: Lebanese authorities say they're tightening up their own border controls.
Does Tamim have any concrete evidence?
There's some contradictory evidence, but most signs seem to point towards Mossad's involvement. Here's a question, though: Does Tamim have anything concrete?
I don't expect him to reveal his entire case on international television. But the slow drip of more-smoke-than-fire "evidence" seems to suggest that Tamim doesn't have a bulletproof case. I'm not an expert on Emirati criminal law, but Tamim doesn't seem to have met any reasonable burden of proof.
He claims to have physical evidence -- DNA and fingerprints -- but physical evidence is only useful if you have something to match it to. Dubai doesn't have some master database of Mossad DNA, so this physical evidence is of limited utility. The CCTV footage and passport records don't prove anything. And why did it take twenty-seven trained agents to assassinate one man traveling under his real name and without bodyguards? I'm very unclear on how all of these people fit into the assassination plot.
Maybe I'm wrong -- maybe Tamim has an ace up his sleeve -- but this investigation seems close to hitting a wall. Tamim's plea for Western help (which he's unlikely to get, in my opinion) seems an acknowledgement of that reality.
For updates throughout the day, follow us on 
Twitter, 
Facebook or 
RSS!
Categories: Israel, Israel & Palestine, Palestine, Regional News, United Arab Emirates
Tags: assassinations, Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, Meir Dagan, Mossad
1 Comment
The fact they have little concrete evidence can be seen in the police chief's amusing call for head of the Mossad to: "Be a man about it, and admit it" which sounds just as silly to middle eastern ears, as it does to yours.
Dubai's best chances for concrete evidence the following:
1) the phone trail:
apparently leads to a concrete country in central Europe. However i read that the countries involved are not very cooperative with the investigation. Unclear if they are shielding Mossad or (more likely) they simply want to avoid continued bad press linking them with the assassination.
2) the money trail:
recent revelations linked the hit team to US credit cards issued by an Israeli start-up called Payoneer. However the start-up is definitely real, and its product - a pre-paid MasterCard, is not well traceable and thus perfect for spy games.
This makes its Israeli connection practically meaningless. Doubtful they had knowingly cooperated with a Mossad set-up, risking their whole business.
I've read some interesting unattributed reports on three issues:
first, that Duabi haven't presented video of the crucial minutes around Mabhouh because nearby cameras were somehow disabled. this was attributed to arab press, but with no link. what i saw was an arab text and a google auto-translation.
Second, a source told Israeli Haaretz that the passport pics were likely photoshopped by whoever did the hit, making actual biometrical identification impossible. This could be true, or could be a spin by Mossad to quell home criticism.
Third, new allegations came up regarding the involvement of Arab intelligence agencies in some stages of the hit. This also could be true, but it is equally likely this is Iranian propaganda aimed at Jordan and Egypt who are perceived as Israel's allies.
Post a Comment