As expected, the investigation into a Hamas leader's assassination in Dubai now involves U.S.-based credit card companies. One of those companies is Payoneer, a firm on Park Avenue which has a research and development center in Tel Aviv. The AP reports that it called Payoneer's Tel Aviv office and "got a recording listing extensions, but when these were pressed, there was only dead air."
Many of the prepaid credit cards used to pay for airfare and hotel rooms in the elaborate killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh were issued by Metabank, an Iowa-based bank, which got them from Payoneer. According to the AP, Payoneer CEO Yuval Tal was identified in a 2006 Fox News interview "as a former member of the Israeli special forces" who provided commentary on the war between Israel and Hezbollah. Tal said, "It's a war that [Israel] cannot lose... The Israelis have to win this war. It's something that the Israelis knew for many, many years, and I think now the world is understanding better what is going on." Payoneer, which has other Israeli ties and had previously said it was cooperating with the investigation, now tells the AP there's "no further comment."
It is suspected that Mossad was behind the murder. Dubai's police chief Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim, who now says there are 27 suspects in the hit, ridiculed the hitmen and hitwomen seen in the surveillance tape, "The mistake they made was that even the disguise was primitive, the ’70s style. ... If they want a training course in disguise, we would be happy to oblige." Also interesting: Reuters' article on why Dubai was a "perfect" place for an assassination.
