Netanyahu authorized Mabhouh’s assassination in early January: Sunday Times
Benjamin Netanyahu
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorized the assassination of Hamas leader Mahmoud Al Mabhouh in early January, the Sunday Times has reported. Quoting sources with knowledge of Mossad, the paper said that Netanyahu told Mossad chief Meir Dagan to go ahead with the Dubai killing during a meeting at the Midrasha, the intelligence agency’s headquarters, in the northern suburbs of Tel Aviv. “The people of Israel trust you. Good luck,” the Israeli prime minister, the man who gives final authorisation for such operations, reportedly told Dagan, in the presence of some members of a hit squad.
Mossad and Netanyahu apparently did not regard the mission as unduly complicated or risky. According to the report, Mossad had received intelligence that Al Mabhouh was planning a trip to Dubai and prepared an operation to assassinate him off-guard in a luxury hotel there. The team rehearsed the assassination, using a hotel in Tel Aviv as a training ground without alerting its owners. However, the assassination was eventually revealed thanks mainly to Dubai’s extensive system of CCTV cameras and outstanding police work.
