By IRNA,
London : Britons travelling to Israel are being warned by the Foreign Office not to hand their passports over to Israeli officials unless it is absolutely necessary.
The unprecedented warning comes in amended travel advice and coincides with the expulsion of an Israeli diplomat, believed to be Mossad’s station chief in London, in protest at the use of forged British passports in the assassination of a Hamas official.
“UK passport holders should be aware of a recent Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) investigation into the misuse of UK passports in the murder of Mahmud al-Mabhuh in Dubai on 19 January 2010,” the new Foreign Office advice says.
“The Soca investigation found circumstantial evidence of Israeli involvement in the fraudulent use of British passports. This has raised the possibility that your passport details could be captured for improper uses while your passport is out of your control,” it warns.
“The risk applies in particular to passports without biometric security features. We recommend that you only hand your passport over to third parties including Israeli officials when absolutely necessary,” the advice adds.
Announcing the first expulsion of an Israeli diplomat in more than 20 years, Foreign Secretary David Miliband denounced Israel’s behaviour as “intolerable” and displaying a “profound disregard for the sovereignty of the United Kingdom”.
“The fact that that was done by a country that is a friend, with significant diplomatic, cultural, business and personal ties to the UK, only adds insult to injury. No country or Government could stand by in such a situation,” Miliband told parliament on Tuesday.
Former shadow foreign secretary Sir Gerald Kaufman congratulated the British government in being the first western country “to take specific action against the serial crimes committed by the Israeli government.”
Miliband said he was demanding a “formal assurance” from Israel that it will never be a party again to the misuse of British passports and expected to receive it soon.
But the Conservative’s shadow foreign secretary William Hague pointed out that a previous Israeli foreign minister, Shimon Peres, had given a similar undertaking in 1986 when Israel was also caught forging British passports that have not been upheld.
Former cabinet minister Douglas Hogg called for the Israeli officials, who could not claim diplomatic immunity, to be prosecuted for criminal conspiracy to facilitate murder under UK domestic terrorism legislation and for international arrest warrants to be issued.