Poland: Israeli 'spy' faces extradition

Alleged Mossad accomplice in Dubai hit may be sent to Germany.

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL
dubai passports vb (photo credit: AP)
dubai passports vb
(photo credit: AP)
BERLIN - Alleged Israeli spy Uri Brodsky, who purportedly provided the fake German passport used in the Dubai assassination in January, may be extradited from Poland to Germany this week.
The Federal prosecutor in Karlsruhe alleged that Brodsky illegally obtained a German passport, which allowed a hit man using the name Michael Bodenheimer to travel to Dubai to kill Hamas commander and Iranian arms smuggler Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai in January.
RELATED:'Brodsky affair legal issue only'Dubai doesn't want 'Mossad agent'
A hearing is slated for Monday in Warsaw to determine if Brodsky will be extradited to Germany for unlawful secret service activity an providing false information to a Cologne passport agency. The Federal prosecutor in Karlsruhe alleges that Brodsky illegally obtained a German passport, which allowed a hit man using the name Michael Bodenheimer to travel to Dubai to kill Hamas commander and Iranian arms smuggler Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai in January.
The Brodsky affair has caused diplomatic friction among two of Israel's most important European partners. According to media reports in Germany, Israel has turned the diplomatic screws on Poland and Germany to prevent an extradition of Brodsky to Germany. A polish diplomat told Rzeczpospolita, a daily newspaper in Poland, in June that “if we extradite him we will anger the Israelis. If we release him, we will anger the Germans. When we discovered this man...we should have pretended that we had not seen him. But now it is too late.”
The federal prosecutor told the The Jerusalem Post in June that the matter is based on the forgery of a German passport and illicit secret service activity in the Germany. He insisted that the pursuit of the alleged secret service agent is purely a legal matter, and would not identify the agent as Israeli. The alleged Israel spy could face incarceration during the legal process, or the court may release him on bail while the judicial proceeding unfolds. The German government could also decide to release the Israeli suspect.