Dubai police said they'll issue a warrant for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if an investigation concludes that Israel's Mossad intelligence service was behind the murder in the emirate of a senior Hamas official, The Jerusalem Post reported.
"For Mossad to carry out operations outside of Israel, the prime minister must have signed off on it," police chief Dahi Khalfan Tamim said in a telephone interview Friday. "When you carry on an assassination operation in someone else's territory you should expect a response."
Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a founder of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Hamas movement, arrived in Dubai in Jan. 19 and his body was found in a hotel there the following day. Hamas has said Mossad was behind the murder.
Netanyahu's office declined to comment when contacted by telephone Friday.
Tamim said the investigation into the death is ongoing and "we are not ruling out any party." Dubai police said on Jan. 29 that preliminary investigations indicated the perpetrators were a criminal gang who held European passports and had fled the country.
Dubai Attorney General Essam al-Humaidan backs the decision to hold Netanyahu responsible if Mossad was behind the crime, and would seek the help of Interpol, Tamim said.
The police chief told Abu Dhabi's National newspaper in a report published earlier Friday that the killing was carried out with methods used by Mossad in the past. Initial reports suggested al-Mabhouh was given an electric shock before being suffocated, according to the National.
Dubai may seek Netanyahu's arrest
