Dubai Restricts Israeli Entry After Killing

Dubai’s police chief said it will enforce an entry ban on Israeli dual nationals, the first sanction by the emirate following its allegations Israeli intelligence agents murdered a top Hamas leader there in January.

Though the countries have no diplomatic ties, Israeli dual nationals, mostly business people, have entered the United Arab Emirates relatively unhindered under second passports.

The Emirates will seek to identify Israelis by “physical features and the way they speak.” said Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim.

A spokesman for the Israeli prime minister’s office declined to comment on the announcement.

Shunned throughout most of the Arab world, Israel prizes even the most minimal trapping of normalization with any country the Middle East.

“This is a harsh step,” said Yoav Stern, an expert on the Arab world at the Peres Center for Peace in Tel Aviv.

Israeli officials have either denied or withheld comment on allegations that the Mossad intelligence agency played a role in the killing of Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhoub in a Dubai hotel room.

Gen. Tamim has said there is a “99%” chance that Israel was behind the killing.

As details of the case trickled out of Dubai, some commentators in Israel and abroad, assuming Mossad involvement, criticized the agency for underestimating the ability of Dubai police to piece together the hit. Dubai authorities identified a team of 26 suspects on closed-circuit TV—some of them disguised in wigs and beards, or carrying tennis rackets.

[adrotate group=”15″]