'Netanyahu authorized Dubai assassination'
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly authorized the assassination of senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Mabhouh early January in Tel Aviv. According to a report published by Times Online Netanyahu held a meeting with Mossad chief Meir Dagan in early January inside the briefing room of the headquarters of the spy agency where "some members of a hit squad" were also present. Citing Mossad sources, the report said "as the man who gives final authorization for such operations, Netanyahu was briefed on plans to kill Mahmoud al-Mabhouh." Sources said Mossad had received intelligence that the Hamas commander was planning a Dubai trip and they started preparing for an operation to assassinate him. "The team had already rehearsed, using a hotel in Tel Aviv as a training ground without alerting its owners," according to the report. TimesOnline: Dubai wants head of Mossad arrested over Hamas assassination. + Meir Dagan: the mastermind behind Mossad's secret war: Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, was greeted by Meir Dagan, the 64-year-old head of the agency. [He] led Netanyahu and a general to a briefing room. According to sources with knowledge of Mossad, inside the briefing room were some members of a hit squad. As the man who gives final authorisation for such operations, Netanyahu was briefed on plans to kill Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a member of Hamas, the militant Islamic group that controls Gaza. The mission was not regarded as unduly complicated or risky, and Netanyahu gave his authorisation, in effect signing Mabhouh’s death warrant. AWIP: After Dubai, Israelis question Mossad methods: Gilad Atzmon argues that, given the close relationship between the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office and the Mossad intelligence agency, Premier Binyamin Netanyahu must be held to account personally for the murder of a Hamas official in Dubai by Israeli Mossad agents travelling on cloned European passports. SOTT: Mossad Psychopaths Behind Murder of Hamas Official In Dubai. Daily Telegraph: How murder became an accepted tool of foreign policy. + Daily Telegraph’s Andrew Gilligan doesn’t believe the British Foreign Office.