UK 'blocking' Mossad return to London.

I spoke the other day about a group of French Jewish intellectuals who were arguing that blind support for the state of Israel was wrong and counter-productive.

The signatories to the petition, all of them Shimon's friends, have concluded that they no longer have a choice: Their Israel has no idea where it's living. It doesn't realize how cut off it is from the world, from America, Europe and the Arab countries that have made peace with it, just when it needs them more than ever.

And, as if to prove their point, Britain has refused to allow a Mossad representative back into the country because Israel is refusing to give any guarantee that it will not misuse British passports in future clandestine operations. This arose from the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, which was believed to have been done by Mossad using forged British passports.

The British government expressed outrage but the Israelis have never admitted having anything to do with this murder, although the British were convinced enough to expel Israeli diplomats from British soil.

But, clearly, the Israelis have not understood the level of outrage which the British felt.

Israel has never admitted any role in February's Dubai assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, who was described as a key figure in smuggling Iranian weapons into the Gaza Strip on behalf of the Palestinian Islamist movement. It has abstained from signing any material that might be construed as a confession.

Britain had made clear in public statements and private meetings with the Israelis that it expected formal guarantees that there would be no repeat of the passport cloning. The real documents belonged to Britons living in Israel.

Forged or stolen Irish, Australian, French and German passports were also used by the hit squad, whose operation – including the use of elaborate disguises – was extensively recorded by CCTV cameras in the emirate.

Israel conspicuously refrained from retaliating for the expulsion of the Mossad officer, apparently accepting that it was no more than a slap on the wrist before a return to business as usual.

Well, there has been no return to "business as usual" as far as Gordon Brown's government is concerned. They are insisting - and I don't regard this as outrageous - that the Israelis give some form of guarantee that this outrageous use of the passports of British citizens in clandestine Mossad operations stops.

Clearly the Israelis are waiting for the Tories to be elected so that normal relations can continue.

Yediot reported that Israeli security officials were concerned about the breakdown in relations between the two agencies. "It is estimated that the affair will only be resolved, if at all, after this week's UK general elections," the paper said.

But the French Jewish intellectuals clearly have a point when they argue that Netanyahu's Israel "doesn't realize how cut off it is from the world" if it thinks that Labour is the problem here and the behaviour they indulged in is acceptable.

Israel is currently seeing it's ties to the US at their lowest ebb for over thirty years. And now they are now at odds with the UK, another traditional ally.

Netanyahu should realise that the problem here is not with Labour or Obama; the problem is that the extremist right wing coalition which he has formed is out of kilter with the rest of the world.

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Tags: Israel, Palestine, Mossad, United Kingdom, United States, Obama