Dubai: Israeli premier faces arrest

[Savonarola]

COPS! Of Dubai:

Dubai: Israeli premier faces arrest 


Tamim said he was 'almost certain' Israeli agents plotted the murder of al-Mabhouh [File: Reuters]

The head of the Dubai police is planning to seek the arrest of the prime minister of Israel and the head of the country's secret service, Mossad, over the killing of a Hamas leader.

Dhahi Khalfan Tamim told Al Jazeera he would ask the Dubai prosecutor to issue arrest warrants for Binyamin Netanyahu and Meir Dagan this week.

Tamim said he was "almost certain" Israeli agents were involved in the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a Hamas commander, at a Dubai hotel in January.

Israel has has neither confirmed nor denied involvement in al-Mabhouh's murder.

The police chief said Mossad had "insulted" Dubai and Western countries whose fraudulent passports were used by suspects in the assassination.

Investigation expanding

And a UAE newspaper reported that Dubai had also asked the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to look into prepaid credit cardsissued by the Meta Financial Group's MetaBank which the suspects used.

Citing an FBI source, The National newspaper said the investigation would look into any Israeli involvement in the killing.

Quoting Dubai police, the newspaper said: "Thirteen of the 27 suspects used prepaid MasterCards issued by MetaBank, a regional American bank, to purchase plane tickets and book hotel rooms."

MetaBank said it followed proper procedures when it issued the cards.

Authorities told the bank that the suspects appeared to have used stolen passports to get employment with US companies, MetaBank said in a statement on Tuesday.

Dubai police have published details of 26 suspects together with passport photographs, and claim to have DNA evidence of the identity of at least one of the killers.

As a consequence of the assassination, UAE officials say they will prevent Israeli citizens travelling on foreign passports from entering the country.

Dubai police last Sunday issued a statement saying the "killers used the drug succinylcholine to sedate al-Mabhouh before they suffocated him" and that "assassins used this method so that it would seem that his death was natural".

Al-Mabhouh's killing has led investigators to Britain, Ireland, Australia and Germany - countries whose passports the assassins allegedly used.

Bad boys, bad boys, what you gonna do?
What you gonna do when they come for you?

[Drakken]

And who will put any Head of Government in service under arrest, exactly? 

Might be disgusting to bleeding hearts, but even nowadays Raison d'État still applies. Next time, don't send agents; send bombers. And if Dubai agents dare to enter Israel to try to apply this farce, have them hanged as enemy agents and send back their corpses as a warning. That's the only language they get.

And oddly enough, I don't see him ask for the arrest of the heads of both Hezbollah and Hamas for ordering the murder of Israeli civilians throughout rockets and suicide bombings.

[Ed Anger]

Derka derka

[Malthus]

Hilarious. 

[DisturbedPervert]

I guess they'll have to cancel their plans to get stuck in Burj Dubai elevators

[DontSayBanana]

And who will put any Head of Government in service under arrest, exactly? 

I thought in a case like that, with one country wanting the arrest of another's head of state, that the ICC had to issue the warrant.

[Viking]

I'm baffled, does this mean that if Netanyahu actually arrived in Dubai the police would fight of the mob for the right to kill/arrest him?

[grumbler]

And oddly enough, I don't see him ask for the arrest of the heads of both Hezbollah and Hamas for ordering the murder of Israeli civilians throughout rockets and suicide bombings.

I haven't heard about these Hamas and Hezbollah attacks against Israeli citizens in Dubai.

I know they must have happened in Dubai, because not even you would whine about Dubai failing to try to arrest people for crimes not within the jurisdiction of Dubai.

[grumbler]

Hilarious. 

yeah, but pretty much inevitable.  This is the only way the mouse can roar, and it takes some of the pressure off the financial news in Dubai.

[Drakken]

And who will put any Head of Government in service under arrest, exactly? 

I thought in a case like that, with one country wanting the arrest of another's head of state, that the ICC had to issue the warrant.

And he or she will accept peacefully to be arrested? After all, to capture the head of government, you need to fend of his secret service bodyguards - whose job is to protect the integrity of their boss with their lives.

And it is tantamount to a declaration of war, anyway. He basically states "we will use any power at our disposition to grab your freely democratically-elected leader, have it captured and thrown in jail for taking a morally reprehensible decision, yet reasonably limited in scope,  to defend your country's interest and survival".

And for what crime? Murder? So now espionage and csecret services are now banned from working clandestinely? What do you think UAE, or any Islamic country for that matter, don't have agents who commit murder as part of their job?

And the guy is not exacly without conflict of interest. He is a Muslim in the United Arab Emirate, and by default anti-sionist and anti-Israel.

And it is a ludicrous concept anyway for its far-reaching implications for diplomacy. After all, Heads of Governments derive the same privileges of immunity as their ambassadors from the Fountainhead, i.e the Head of State. They are the boss of their country's ambassadors and diplomat corps, through the Minister of Foreign Affairs that he or she chooses.

So if Heads of Government are not immune from prosecution for taking decisions which enter the doctrine of Raison d'État (and eliminating terrorists and enemies of the State certainly enter that one, by default), it directly attacks the diplomatic immunity of any official government agent or diplomat for whatever reason the host country might deem to be an offense.

[Drakken]

I haven't heard about these Hamas and Hezbollah attacks against Israeli citizens in Dubai.

I've certainly heard of Hamas and Hezbollah committing attacks against Israeli citizens in Israel, though. And certainly with explicit orders coming from the top.

[Jaron]

I haven't heard about these Hamas and Hezbollah attacks against Israeli citizens in Dubai.

I've certainly heard of Hamas and Hezbollah committing attacks against Israeli citizens in Israel, though. And certainly with explicit orders coming from the top.

Why would Dubai call for their arrest though?


The reaction from Dubai while outrageous in that it is unrealistic and unlikely to ever happen, is not completely unreasonable. The US would not take kindly to Israeli hit squads killing someone in Los Angeles either.

To be honest Drakken, your entire argument seems to be quite weightless. There must be respect for international law. I will not argue that Israel should be prosecuted for what it did in Dubai, but it is quite clear the heads of state do not enjoy diplomatic immunity.

Or have you not been paying attention to world history? Certainly many men were pursuing what they thought were their best national interests and found themselves on the courtroom or standing on the gallows..

[Syt]

And who will put any Head of Government in service under arrest, exactly? 

[Drakken]

To be honest Drakken, your entire argument seems to be quite weightless. There must be respect for international law. I will not argue that Israel should be prosecuted for what it did in Dubai, but it is quite clear the heads of state do not enjoy diplomatic immunity.

Or have you not been paying attention to world history? Certainly many men were pursuing what they thought were their best national interests and found themselves on the courtroom or standing on the gallows..

Respect for international law? It wasn't a war crime or a crime against humanity, it was the eliminination of individuals who are, by their own works, committing acts both against international law (the murder of civilians, which are protected by a gazillion treaties and international law) and committing aggression against a sovereign state, which is stated in black and white in the UN charter as ground for use of force.

And no one will argue that the act wasn't limited in scope and proportional to the danger. It's not like the Israelis bombed a whole skyscraper and leveled it to the ground to eliminate only one enemy agent.

I have no problem with the prosecution of the Israeli agents, there are precedents (the French bombing of the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland, for example). But the Head of Government? The ministers? Come on...

After their mandate is over - yeah sure why not when they become private citizens again. During their mandate, no. They have immunity while they reign and rule, period.

And yeah, Noriega is the exception rather than the rule, but Panama had to actually be invaded and his rule toppled before arrest. That dude is talking about actually sending policemen cuff the Israeli PM in any country he might walk in.

[MadImmortalMan]

This is the only way the mouse can roar

I thought that was by declaring war on the US.