Poland to extradite Israeli spy to Germany on lesser charges

"Uri Brodsky"

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
A judge in Poland has ruled in favor of the extradition to Germany of an Israeli alleged spy, wanted by Interpol in connection with the assassination of a Hamas official last January. The court ruling stipulates that Israeli citizen Uri Brodsky, who was arrested upon arriving in Poland on June 4, is to be extradited to Germany, where he will face charges of forgery. Authorities in Berlin accuse Brodsky of having helped an assassination team working for Israeli intelligence agency Mossad to acquire a forged German passport, used by an assassination team member to travel in and out of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. While there, the Israeli assassins are thought to have killed Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a weapons procurer for Palestinian group Hamas, who was in Dubai on a business trip. Shortly after Brodsky’s arrest in Warsaw, Poland and Berlin came under intense pressure from Israel to ignore the Interpol arrest warrant for the alleged Israeli spy, drop all charges, and allow him to flee to Israel. Polish authorities almost gave in to the Israeli request, but eventually decided to facilitate the German extradition request. This was only after they were assured by German officials that Brodsky would face relatively minor charges of forgery, and would not be tried for espionage. It follows that the alleged Israeli spy will be extradited to face charges of forging a German travel document, an accusation that, as Israeli daily Ha’aretz notes, “will allow Israel to escape the embarrassment of a high-profile espionage trial and the potential damage to Israeli-German relations if Brodsky were convicted as a spy”. Brodsky’s legal team said he may appeal the extradition decision. Meanwhile, the court proceedings in Poland remain closed to the public.