DUBAI — Iran and the Gulf Cooperation Council on Tuesday joined the chorus denouncing the death of a Hamas leader in Dubai, with both calling it an act of terror and Tehran laying the blame squarely on Israel.
“The Dubai assassination is an act of state terrorism on the part of Israel,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said in a report by state-run Press TV.
“Israel’s existence is itself based on terrorist activities,” he said, and described the Palestinian militant’s death in his hotel room in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates on January 20 as an “embarrassment for Europe.”
GCC Secretary General Abdel Rahim al-Attiya urged European Union countries to cooperate with the UAE probe into the killing “to bring the perpetrators of this crime to justice and prevent the repeat of such a terrorist act.”
Attiya avoided blaming Israel for the militant’s death, instead describing it as the work of an “organised criminal group.”
Dubai has accused Israel of sending agents from its Mossad secret service to murder Mahmud al-Mabhuh, who was found dead in a hotel room in the emirate.
Dubai police chief Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan said last week that he was “99 if not 100” percent sure that the Israeli intelligence service was behind the killing.
Israel has shrugged off accusations of its involvement, and on Tuesday rejected Arab Israeli calls for an open debate on the assassination, even as opposition leader Tzipi… >>>
