What do you think of this story? Please do not just bash on Israel or Ireland..
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/hamas_slaying
Ireland expels Israeli over forged passports
DUBLIN – Ireland announced Tuesday it's expelling an Israeli diplomat in punishment for the alleged Mossad use of forged Irish passports to assassinate a top Hamas official in Dubai.
Israel has refused to confirm or deny its agents' involvement in the January slaying of Hamas official Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, who Dubai officials have said was killed in his hotel room by people posing as holidaymakers in the oil-rich Arab emirate.
They said assassins using 32 fake passports — including eight depicting fictional Irish citizens — participated in the hit squad. The Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Ireland's national police force, the Garda Siochana, launched parallel investigations, but said their appeals for information from Israel fell on deaf ears.
"The misuse of Irish passports by a state with which Ireland enjoys friendly, if sometimes frank, bilateral relations is clearly unacceptable and requires a firm response," Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said as he announced the expulsion.
Ireland's two investigations have reached "the inescapable conclusion that an Israeli government agency was responsible," he said.
Martin said the expelled Israeli official, who was not identified by name or position, was not found guilty himself of forging or stealing Irish passports, but was "a victim of the actions of the state they represent."
Martin also condemned Israel's alleged assassination of Mabhouh.
"Many allegations have been made against Mr. Mabhouh which, if true, would categorize him as a committed terrorist," Martin said. "The Irish government does not believe that states should fight terror with terror. As a matter of principle, Ireland opposes extra-judicial killings. We believe that states have a duty to operate according to the law and to respect that way of life that terrorists seek to destroy."
Martin's aides said this was the first time Ireland has expelled an Israeli official. It last took such action in the mid-1980s against Russian officials suspected of spying activity on behalf of the former Soviet Union.
Israel's ambassador to Ireland, Zion Evrony, and other embassy staff declined to comment.
But in Jerusalem, Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said Israel "regrets the decision of the Irish government, which is not in line with the importance of our relationship with the Irish government."
The assassins also used fake passports from Britain, Germany, France and Australia. British officials determined that Israeli officials stole the identities of real British citizens, but Martin said all eight Irish passports involved fake identities. He said six of the forged Irish passports used real numbers assigned to real Irish people with different names, while two others were total fabrications.
Australia expelled an Israeli diplomat May 24 after concluding that Mossad was involved in forging four Australian passports.
Britain expelled an Israeli diplomat in March after reaching the same conclusion about 12 fraudulent British passports used by the alleged assassins.
The governments of France and Germany have yet to announce conclusions of their own investigations.
