Mossad agent in Dubai assassination also wanted in New Zealand

Barkan

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
An Israeli Mossad officer wanted by New Zealand authorities is among five suspects recently identified and named by Dubai police in connection with the assassination of a Hamas official. The officer, Zev William Barkan, has been identified as a major suspect in last January’s assassination of Hamas weapons procurer Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, in a luxury Dubai hotel. In 2004, Barkan was one of three Mossad agents who engaged in an aborted attempt to acquire a New Zealand passport, using the birth certificate of Auckland resident Tony Resnick. New Zealand authorities managed to arrest Barkan’s two associates, Uriel Zoshe Kelman and Eli Cara, both from Israel; but Barkan and Resnick managed to escape arrest by flying to Sydney, Australia, before fleeing to Israel. The case caused a major –albeit temporary– rift in New Zealand-Israel relations. Wellington canceled a planned visit to New Zealand later that August by the then Israeli President Moshe Katzav, and delayed approval for the appointment of a new Israeli ambassador to New Zealand. High-level diplomatic relations between the two countries were effectively suspended until August of 2005, when the Israeli government issued a formal apology for “the activities which resulted in the arrest and conviction of two Israel citizens in New Zealand [and] the involvement of Israeli citizens in such activities”. Dubai authorities said they plan to name more of the 32 suspects who participated in the killing of al-Mabhouh in January.