'A Pandora's Box': Arrest of Suspected Mossad Agent Strains German-Israeli Relations

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The story the alleged Israeli agent concocted to obtain the passport had apparently been in the works for some time. In late 2008, an old man went to the German Embassy in Tel Aviv, where he identified himself as Hans Bodenheimer and told officials that he had fled from the Nazis and had come to apply for German citizenship. The consular division approved the request and mailed him the passport. A few weeks later, Hans Bodenheimer's alleged son Michael turned up in Cologne.

There are many indications that Michael Bodenheimer is a Mossad hit man who was directly involved in the Dubai murder. German investigators suspect that Alexander Verin, a.k.a. Uri Brodsky, on the other hand, may have been a Europe-based logistics specialist whose job included inventing fake biographies. The pattern of his travels throughout Europe -- from Germany to Switzerland and then to the Baltic countries -- support this theory. When he was arrested, he had just come from Austria. And when it began to emerge that Bodenheimer had someone helping him in Germany, the investigators expanded their search to include Verin, who had also registered as "Alexander Varin" in some hotels.

One of the basic rules of the intelligence business is never to get fake identities mixed up, but apparently this was precisely what happened in this case. Sometimes the suspected agent posed as Alexander Verin, sometimes as "Varin" and sometimes as Uri Brodsky, allegedly born on April 12, 1971. The Mossad may have even borrowed the identity of a real Israeli for its purposes, a respectable psychiatrist named Uri Brodsky who lives near Tel Aviv, immigrated to the Jewish state from St. Petersburg 15 years ago and denies all involvement with the intelligence service. "I am not a Mossad agent," he told SPIEGEL.

Leaving a Trail

While the real Uri Brodsky hasn't left Israel in two years, his doppelganger has left a trail during his travels. An analysis of air travel and credit card records yielded so many connections that investigators are convinced that the passports of Alexander Verin and Uri Brodsky were used by one and the same person. Based on a photocopy they obtained from one of the hotels where he stayed, the authorities now know what the alleged agent looks like. Germany's Federal Court of Justice issued a warrant for his arrest on April 13.

If Brodsky is in fact extradited, there is, at least in theory, a legal backdoor under Germany's code of criminal procedure, which states that "in the event of a serious disadvantage to the Federal Republic of Germany," or "if other prevailing public interests stand in the way of prosecution," the German federal prosecutor can stop the proceedings. The last time this happened was in 2002, in a case involving two Syrian agents against whom charges had already been brought. The Syrians were released on the day before the trial. In return, Germany received information about Islamist terrorist structures. The fact that Israel's arch enemy Syria received preferential treatment in that case doesn't make the current situation any easier.

Nevertheless, it seems highly unlikely that politics will trump justice this time. Officials in Berlin are apparently very resentful of the Israelis and feel that their brazen behavior in the Mossad incident went "one step too far." When representatives of the most important security agencies and ministries came together for their weekly meeting at the chancellery in Berlin last Tuesday, the Brodsky incident was part of the discussion. The group quickly agreed that the case "must be handled under purely legal criteria," according to one member of the government.

'The Investigations Have Opened a Pandora's Box'

Of course, it remains to be seen whether there will in fact be a trial. The attorney for Uri Brodsky, who is in custody in Poland, announced last week that his client is not the man being sought by German authorities. It is now up to the German Federal Criminal Police Office to prove that Brodsky is their man, otherwise he may not be extradited. It is also possible that officials in the United Arab Emirates, who are investigating the Mabhouh murder, will seek his extradition. And even if the alleged Mossad agent is indicted in Germany, the line of defense is not that difficult to predict. Brodsky "is only accused of having used a forged German passport," claims Israeli Trade Minister Ben-Eliezer. Anything else, he adds, "must be proven."

Until then, the wheels of justice will continue to turn in Germany. The investigators now want to analyze the clandestine practices of the Mossad and are looking into other clues that lead to Germany, directly before and after the Hamas official's murder. "The investigations," says a senior German government official, "have opened a Pandora's box."

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• Part 1: Arrest of Suspected Mossad Agent Strains German-Israeli Relations
• Part 2: Mixing Up Fake Identities