Hamas leader, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. He said the documents “were copied from genuine British passports when handed over for inspection to individuals linked to Israel, either in Israel or in other countries”.

Tonight the Foreign Office warned British travellers to try to avoid entrusting their passports to Israeli officials.

Right, so if you’re British don’t hand your passport to anyone else at all, since they might be an Israeli spy. That’s just common sense, and practical too. Unfortunately, intelligence agencies don’t keep an up to date catalog of passports from other countries. They have to actually steal someone’s passport to make a good copy.

None of this is making any sense, except that we just know a mass murderer is dead, and various government officials feel they aren’t getting enough press coverage.