Israel Matzav

Mahmoud al-Mabhouh: The thick plottens

There have been more developments in the investigation into the liquidation of Hamas terrorist and arms dealer Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. Of course, none of them actually puts us any closer to solving the mystery of who was behind the liquidation, but you didn't really want to know that, did you?

The New York Times reports that two of the alleged liquidators flew to the United States after the deed was done.

That disclosure broadened the scope of an international investigation that has fostered diplomatic tensions and cast a harsh light on the methods of Israel’s intelligence service, the Mossad, which police officials here accuse of ordering the killing.

One suspect traveling on a British passport arrived in the United States on Feb. 14; the other used an Irish passport and arrived on Jan. 21, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case. He did not say where the men entered the country, and added that there was no known record of their leaving.

Many of the 26 suspects identified in the case used stolen identities — most of them taken from people with dual citizenship living in Israel — and that appeared to be true of the two men who traveled to the United States, who used the names Roy Allan Cannon and Evan Dennings. On Friday, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz identified the real Mr. Cannon as “a 62-year-old, ultra-Orthodox father of six” who moved to Israel in 1983. Irish officials said last week that they believed that Mr. Dennings was also a victim of identity theft.

As foreign citizens, the two suspects would have been photographed and fingerprinted on arrival in the United States, and could therefore presumably be tracked. But in light of the identity theft practiced in the case, it seems possible that the men could have left the United States under false travel documents.

This report raises more questions than it answers. First, do you mean to tell me that one of the suspects who supposedly left Dubai within a day actually remained there until February 14 and Inspector Tamim missed him? Pretty shoddy police work in my book.

Second, if the US fingerprints anyone who enters and leaves the country on a foreign passport, couldn't someone also have taken the passports and duplicated them when this person was on a trip to the US, just as the Israelis have been accused of doing?

Third, is there no way to leave the US these days without being tracked? Canada? The Caribbean Islands? Mexico?

Fourth, the US is a big country - someone can find an awful lot of places to hide there.

Fifth, who is Payoneer and how are they connected to this? Someone issues American credit cards in Israel? Bring it on....

Elder of Ziyon carries a report from the Arabic press that claims that the liquidators jammed the surveillance cameras in the hotel for 19 crucial minutes between 8:24 and 8:43 pm on the night of the murder. Holy Rosemary Woods, Batman! Not only does that mean that crucial footage from the exact time of the murder liquidation is missing, but it also shows that the operatives knew they were being videotaped and didn't care about it except for certain crucial moments. Hmmm.

But perhaps the most intriguing report of all today comes from Hamas itself via Reuters. Hamas says that it believes that Egypt or Jordan caused Mr. al-Mabhouh's death.

Mahmoud Nasser, a member of Hamas' political bureau, told [al Quds al Araby] that slain commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was likely being tracked by agents from Jordan and Egypt prior to the January 19 killing.

Nasser said he had been given information regarding such efforts to kill Mabhouh, adding that the evidence indicated that the assassination was carried out earlier than the alleged agents had planned.

According to Nasser, Mabhouh was in possession of "dangerous" information seen as dangerous to particular Arab elements seeking to topple Islamist resistance.

Nasser oversees Hamas' ties with Iran and worked closely with Mabhouh, sometimes referred to as his deputy. Hamas raised these accusations after a prelimary investigation immediately following the murder, and match early suspicions raised by Dubai as well.

JPost adds:

Additionally, in an interview with Hamas's Al Aksa radio station from Damascus, Nasser confirmed Israeli claims that his boss had supplied weapons to Palestinian terrorists.

Nassar said Mabhouh "never stopped thinking about how to fight the [Israeli] occupation by supplying quality weapons to the Palestinian fighters. "

The aide also described how al-Mabhouh celebrated killing two Israeli soldiers in the mid-1980s by standing on one of the corpses.

Oh, and there's this:

The National [an Emirati newspaper. CiJ] also noted a business link between Payoneer, the Paypal-esque company which had issued the credit cards, and Greylock Partners, a venture capital firm. Moshe Mor, one of Greylock's founders, was reportedly an officer in the IDF's military intelligence branch.

And I did business with Moshe Mor in the early 90's. Does that make me a suspect too? What about the dozens of Israelis with whom I have worked who were officers in the IDF's military intelligence branch (probably a sizable percentage of the lawyers in Tel Aviv)?

By the way, the Associated Press reports that with all the belly-aching they have done over the use of their passports, the European countries to which the liquidators allegedly fled aren't doing a whole lot about finding the liquidators (Hat Tip: Power Line).

Maybe Inspector Tamim (which, by the way, means naive in Hebrew) should get OJ Simpson involved. I hear he's an expert at finding the real killers. Heh.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:54 PM