Website comment,
: On tonight’s 9:30pm
SBS broadcast, there was courtroom footage of
the sentencing of the Israeli “tourism” agents.
One was desperately trying to cover his face
with one hand. Watch the Kiwi dollar plummet. As
for Australia, Herr Katsav surely will be most
welcome here.Perhaps he’ll be travelling on an
Australian passport, to simplify things at
customs.
Auckland
High Court Justice Judith Potter
[also] ordered them to pay $45,150 each to
the Cerebral Palsy Society after they used the name
of a disabled man in their bid to get a false
passport.
Sydney,
Israel regrets
NZ ‘spy’ case
From correspondents in
Jerusalem July 15, 2004
ISRAEL said today it regretted diplomatic sanctions imposed by Auckland after two suspected Mossad
agents were jailed for trying to fraudulently obtain a New Zealand passport.
[Helen Clark]”Israel has a long tradition of excellent relations with
New Zealand, and we will do everything necessary —
together with the New Zealand Government — to restore relations,” Foreign Minister Silvan
Shalom told public radio.
“Of course, we regret this response, but we think this decision is a decision that can be fixed.”
His comments came after New Zealand’s Prime
Minister Helen Clark (right) announced the suspension of Foreign Ministry contacts and said she would stop a planned visit by
Israeli President Moshe Katsav in
August.
In an angry statement issued after an Auckland
High Court today jailed the two men, Ms Clark said that their actions had amounted to a breach of New
Zealand’s sovereignty.
Uriel Zoshe Kelman and Eli Cara
were arrested on March 23 after an undercover police operation and pleaded guilty last month to charges including fraudulently attempting to obtain a New Zealand passport.[shy Mossad agent]
Auckland High Court Justice Judith Potter
today sentenced the two men to six months in jail.
She ordered them to pay $45,150 each to the
Cerebral Palsy Society after they used the name of a disabled man in their bid to get a false passport.
Katsav’s office denied that any trip to New
Zealand had been in the pipeline while the president himself told army radio that he hoped
“things would become clear and resolve themselves.”
New
Zealand condemns without reservation these actions
by agencies of the Israel
government.–
Prime Minister Helen Clark
Sydney,
NZ fury over
Israel ‘secret two’
From correspondents in
Wellington July 15, 2004
NEW Zealand’s Prime Minister launched a blistering verbal attack and slapped diplomatic sanctions on Israel Thursday after two suspected Mossad
agents were imprisoned for six months for illegally trying to obtain a New Zealand passport.
“New Zealand condemns without reservation these actions by agencies of the Israel government,”
Prime Minister Helen Clark said after the pair were sentenced to prison terms.
“The New Zealand Government views the act carried out by the Israeli intelligence agents as not only utterly unacceptable but also a breach of
New Zealand sovereignty and international law,” she said.
Ms Clark said the action of the men and those of the Israeli Government had “seriously strained relations” with New Zealand.
The pair, Urie Zoshe Kelman, 30, and
Eli Cara, 50, both admitted a charge of illegally trying to obtain a New Zealand passport at an earlier hearing.
They were arrested in March after they tried to collect a passport in the name of a New Zealand national who is a wheelchair-bound cerebral palsy victim.
The two defendants were reported to have links to Israel’s Mossad foreign intelligence service. Ms
Clark’s comments signalled her administration believed the men were secret agents.
There was no reaction from the pair in the
Auckland High Court following their sentencing and
Israel did not immediately respond to Clark’s comments.
The charge carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment and Thursday’s sentencing followed a surprise plea change to guilty at their last court appearance on July 2.
Two other men thought to be involved in the crime remain at large, police said.
Ms Clark said that Israel had ignored requests made three months ago for an explanation and an apology.
As a result, Ms Clark
said she would suspend high-level visits by New
Zealand officials to Israel and refuse any
request for Israel’s President Moshe
Katsav to visit later this year when he is
due to go to Australia.
Wellington also cancelled planned foreign ministry talks later this year and said any
Israelis visiting New Zealand on government business would have to apply for a visa.
Wellington also will delay approval for the appointment of a new Israeli ambassador to New
Zealand.
“As will be apparent from these steps, the breach of New Zealand laws and sovereignty by agents of the Israeli Government has seriously strained our relationship with Israel,” Ms Clark said in a statement following the sentencing.
She said that the case involved far more than simply criminal behaviour by two individuals.
The Israeli agents had “attempted to demean the integrity of the New Zealand passport system and could have created considerable difficulties for
New Zealanders presenting their passports overseas in future,” she added.
“This type of behaviour is unacceptable internationally by any country. It is a sorry indictment of Israel that it has again taken such actions against a country with which it has friendly relations,” Ms Clark added.
New Zealand jails two href=”https://fpp.co.uk/BoD/Mossad/Dean_Papers_0504.html”>The href=”https://fpp.co.uk/BoD/Mossad/NZHerald200404.html”>A history of Mossad’s overseas bungling href=”https://fpp.co.uk/BoD/Mossad/NZHerald240404.html”>The two Mossad agents charged with NZ passport offences photographed in Auckland reporting to police as part of bail conditions | on a fake Canadian passport
Mossad spies, punishes Israel
Two Israelis plead guilty to trying to acquire a New Zealand passport | The spies who stole my name
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Asian-Based organisations after arrest of two agents
May 19, 2004: BBC reports that Lebanon smashes Mossad assassination ring
May 13, 2004:
1979 Mossad Assassination attempt on Ambassador
John Dean: Dean papers with full taste of
Mossad’s evil opened at Jimmy Carter’s
Presidential Library
May 9, 2004: Israelis with fake docs arrested in Tennessee, ‘how to fly’ leaflet found; were seen to toss something else out of Ryder truck, FBI called in
May 1, 2004: Crown
Prince Abdullah says Zionists behind Terror attacks in Saudi Arabia
Apr 29 — May 2004: Secrecy surrounds two Mossad agents when they reappear in Auckland court on NZ passport forgery charges | Police fear al Qaeda terrorists using NZ passports following arrest of 2 men in Thailand and seizure of fake NZ passports |
Two men believed by senior Government figures to be
Israeli secret service agents have been arrested in Auckland trying to obtain a false New Zealand passport | One
Mossad agent entered NZ