Both Israeli and Polish officials continued to shroud the arrest in
Warsaw
earlier this month of an Israeli who allegedly forged one of the
passports used
by the team that purportedly killed Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh
in Dubai
in January, amid reports that it is just a matter of time before the man
will be
extradited to Germany.
“We are not confirming any information,” a
spokesman at the Polish embassy in Tel Aviv said of the arrest some 10
days ago
of the alleged Mossad agent who goes by the name of Uri Brodsky. “We are
not
commenting.”
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The spokesman refused to comment not only on the arrest of
Brodsky, but also on whether Israel has asked Poland not to extradite him to
Germany, or whether the incident has caused tension between Jerusalem and
Warsaw.
Germany has reportedly asked for Brodsky’s extradition because he
was allegedly involved in providing false information to obtain a German
passport in Cologne for a man by the name of Michael Bodenheimer that was
apparently used by the squad that killed Mabhouh.
In Germany, meanwhile,
a spokesman for the German federal prosecutor told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday
that the prosecutor’s office “does not know” if Israel “intervened” with Poland
regarding the extradition of the alleged spy. The spokesman said he read the
news item about the Israeli government contacting Polish officials in the Der
Spiegel report that broke the story.
When asked what the legal timeline
was in connection with the extradition process, the German spokesman said that
depended on “many different factors.” He declined to give a time frame and said
the legal options available to the suspect conform to EU guidelines.
The
UAE newspaper The National
quoted on Sunday Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim,
the Dubai Police chief, as saying Dubai would not seek the suspect’s
extradition
from Germany.
“This person has committed the crime in Germany and
therefore it is only normal that he will be prosecuted there,” he was
quoted as
saying. “For us, what is important [is] that he will receive his
punishment
irrespective of which country.”
He added, however, that if Brodsky was
involved in the assassination in Dubai, then his extradition would be
sought.
“The fact that German investigators could develop their own
investigations is a clear indication of the strength of the information
provided
by us and that the pictures and other data collected are accurate,”
Tamim was
quoted as saying.
The arrest of Brodsky is the latest fallout from the
assassination of Mabhouh, for which Israel has never admitted
responsibility.
Last month Australia expelled an Israeli diplomat over the passport
forgery
issue, and Britain did the same in March.
Twelve British, eight Irish,
four Australian, two French and a German passport were allegedly used by
the hit
squad that killed Mabhouh.
Tourism Minister Stas Meseznikov told
reporters before Sunday’s cabinet meeting that he did not think the
episode
would spur a crisis with either Poland or Germany.
“Poland is a big
friend of Israel, as is Germany, and it needs to tell Germany that it
will
extradite him to Israel; and if there is a complaint against him, we
have a
legal system that is well respected in the world,” Meseznikov
said.
Benjamin Weinthal contributed to this
report from Berlin.