"I've asked that a member of the Embassy of Israel be withdrawn from the UK as a result of this affair and this is taking place," Foreign Secretary David Miliband told Parliament. Miliband said there were "compelling reasons" to believe Israel was responsible for forging the passports and said he had sought assurances from Israel that it would not do so again. "Such misuse of British passports is intolerable ... It also represents a profound disregard for the sovereignty of the United Kingdom," he said.
Miliband did not accuse Israel of being responsible for the killing.
Israel said it regretted the British decision. "The relationship between Israel and Britain is mutually important," said Yigal Palmor, a spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied a role in the January killing of Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh, a military commander of Hamas, in a Dubai hotel room.
Dubai authorities have given names of 27 alleged members of the team that tracked and killed the Palestinian, and said they used fraudulent British, Irish, French, German and Australian passports to enter and depart from Dubai. Dubai's police chief says he is almost certain Israeli agents were involved.
Britain's move could put pressure on other countries whose passports were used to take similar action. The Paris prosecutor said Tuesday France has opened an investigation over the use of fake French passports in the assassination.
In his address to Parliament, Miliband said a British police unit that investigated the 12 fake passports had concluded they were copied from genuine British passports when these were handed over for inspection to individuals linked to Israel, either in Israel or elsewhere.
Miliband declined to identify the Israeli diplomat who would leave or his rank but told Sky News: "He was chosen by us and it was based on the investigations that we have undertaken."
Britain amended its travel advice for Israel, recommending British visitors only give their passports to other people, including Israeli officials, "when absolutely necessary.”
In the Gaza Strip, a spokesman for Hamas said the expulsion proved that Britain holds Israel responsible for the Dubai assassination. "Britain's decision to expel the Israeli diplomat is, in addition to previously uncovered proof, clear evidence of the involvement of the Israeli occupation in the assassination of martyr Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh," said Sami Abu Zuhr.
Nadim Shehadi, a Middle East expert at London thinktank Chatham House, said Britain was in effect accusing Israel of ordering Al-Mabhouh's killing, but Faysal Itani, of consultants Exclusive Analysis, called the expulsion a "slap on the wrist.”
Britain expelled an Israeli diplomat in 1988 in an espionage row. The man, Arie Regev, was described at the time by informed British sources as a Mossad agent.
In 1997, Canada briefly withdrew its ambassador from Israel after a bungled attempt in Jordan by Mossad agents, using false Canadian passports, to assassinate a Hamas leader.
