It was billed as the moment when, we were told, Britain would read out the riot act to Israel over Mossad's suspected link to the abuse of British passports by the killers of Hamas commander, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, in Dubai last month.
But the first thing that the Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor did as he emerged from a meeting with the Foreign Office chief Sir Peter Ricketts last Thursday was to clarify to waiting journalists that he had come in response to an “invitation” and not summons — making a pointed distinction between being “summoned” (as in the “Iranian envoy summoned for a dressing down”) and being simply called for a coffee.
The message Mr. Prosor wanted to get out — a commentator noted — was that his meeting with Sir Peter was a routine diplomatic drill and there was no need to get too excited, or read too much into it. In other words, Britain was simply going “through the motions” to calm public opinion. A similar line was coming out of Israel where ministers were said to be “confident” that for all the tough talk Britain would “do nothing” to damage its “strategic” alliance with Israel.
“The U.K. is going through the motions of outrage, but our assessment is that they will do nothing,” The Daily Telegraph reported an Israeli government source as saying. The British government, clearly embarrassed first by the disclosure about the misuse of its passports and then by Israeli bid to play down its fallout, insists that it is taking the issue “very seriously” and has ordered an investigation by the Serious Organised Crime Agency. Foreign Secretary David Miliband described the theft of identities of six Israel-based British citizens and their use in the cold-blooded murder of Mahmoud as an “outrage.”
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4:27 AM
Moderate Islamist here
