Brussels, 12/07/2010 (Agence Europe) - Ireland intends to block the European Commission initiative to authorise the transfer to, and storage in, Israel of sensitive personal data on European citizens. Irish Justice Minister Dermot Ahern, quoted in the daily Haaretz, confirmed his country's intentions this weekend. The Irish intervention will prevent the Israelis from using these data to produce fake passports, as happened in the “Dubaigate” case, where eight Irish passports were counterfeited by Mossad, which is suspected of assassinating Hamas activist Mahmoud al-Mabhoud at the end of January. The Commission would like European governments to approve a declaration that the EU recognises Israeli data protection standards as being sufficient to allow member states to transfer such personal data to Israel. Irish officials, however, called for the termination of the written procedure approving the declaration. “There will now have to be a full hearing of the proposal at the … committee where Ireland will be able to voice our profound concerns at such a proposal,” a spokesman for Ahern is reported in the Irish Times as saying. “The minister believes the EU committee has to take very serious account of the forgery of EU passports - including Irish ones - by Israel in recent months”. The minister sees the matter as being “of the gravest concern” the spokesman went on. (B.C./transl.rt)