The European Commission's proposal to recognize Israeli data protection standards as appropriate to transfer personal data of Europeans has been blocked by the Irish government. A spokesman for Irish Justice Minister Dermot Ahern said that Ireland could not support the move in the wake of the row of the faking of Irish and other EU passports in the killing of Hamas commander al-Mahbouh, in Dubai in January. In Europe, the hit is widely blamed on Israel’s Mossad.
The spokesman said the Irish government had the “gravest concern” that information supplied to Israel could be used to forge passports for use by intelligence agencies.
Dublin expelled an Israeli diplomat last month. Dubai police have accused Israeli secret service operatives to be behind the killing. However, separate investigations conducted by the Irish police did not find any additional evidence that links Israel to the forged passports of EU member states. Nonetheless, the Irish government maintains that Israel was responsible for them.