25-02-2010, 03:36 PM
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/war...5834538957
Quote: Warning on passport forgery ignored, says former diplomat
Mark Dodd and Paul Maley From: The Australian February 26, 2010 12:00AM
IN 2004, it was an open secret in Canberra's Middle Eastern community that Israeli agents were trying to obtain "clean" passports from countries such as Australia and New Zealand to be used by its spy agency, Mossad.
Ali Kazak was the Palestinian representative to Australia at the time and he went public with his concerns, warning the Howard government that Mossad was trying to obtain Australian passport details fraudulently.
Mr Kazak, who served as a semi-official ambassador from 1982 to 2006, last night said he had been vindicated by confirmation that cloned Australian passports were used by suspects in the murder of Palestinian militant Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.
"I told you but you didn't act on the warning," Mr Kazak said. "And you've put Australian lives at risk."
In 2004, Mr Kazak declared that a Mossad agent operating in Sydney at the time had obtained 25 false Australian passports.
Mr Kazak said his claims were played down by then federal attorney-general Philip Ruddock.
Months later, New Zealand police arrested two suspected Mossad agents who had flown in from Australia after a botched attempt to obtain a false passport using identity details of a wheelchair-bound cerebral palsy victim.
The agents had picked a target they guessed was unlikely to travel abroad but their attempts at faking a New Zealand accent aroused the suspicion of an immigration official who alerted Wellington's small but sharp security service.
The two Israelis, Eli Cara and Urie Zoshe Kelman, were promptly arrested.
New Zealand's prime minister at the time, Helen Clark, blasted Israel and suspended all high-level diplomatic contacts over the incident.
Cara and Kelman pleaded guilty to the charges and were sentenced to six months' jail by an Auckland court on charges of having attempted falsely to obtain a passport.
The two served their sentences and were sent home to Israel.
A year later, Israel apologised and diplomatic ties were restored.
Cara, a former Israeli air force officer, had operated a travel business based in the northern Sydney suburb of Turramurra.
Mr Kazak said yesterday he had no doubt Mossad was behind the murder of Mabhouh.
"Yesterday the Israeli members of parliament were praising the head of Mossad for what he did -- for assassinating the Hamas leader in Dubai," he said.
"We know they've been responsible for counterfeiting New Zealand passports. We know that in 1997 when they (Mossad) attempted to assassinate the Hamas leader Khalid Meshaal they used Canadian passports. And we know Mossad agents were operating out of Sydney (in 2003), were counterfeiting Australian passports.
"I said that at the time, but did the Australian government -- Alexander Downer -- investigate seriously this Mossad activity? No, I don't think so."
In 1997, Mossad bungled the assassination of Meshaal, who was injected with a poison while in Jordan by Israeli agents travelling on Canadian documents. Meshaal survived after his assailants were captured by his bodyguards and Israel provided the antidote.
Mr Kazak said the Australian government's failure to properly investigate Mossad's activities here amounted to appeasement and had put Australian lives at risk. "Can you imagine what Australia would do if this (passport fraud) was being done by an Arab or Muslim country?" he said.
"This neglect, this appeasement, this closing of eyes towards Israel is putting Israel's interest above Australia."
Mr Downer last night rejected Mr Kazak's claim.
Speaking from Greece, the former foreign minister said the Howard government had bluntly warned Israel not to issue fake Australian passports to its intelligence operatives.
"I'm not 100 per cent sure that I didn't myself raise it with the Israelis," Mr Downer said. "I may have done. I couldn't rule it out."
Mr Downer said the warning was issued in the context of a series of botched operations involving Mossad agents travelling on fake passports.
"My recollection is that over time we have raised this issue with the Israelis," he said. "We have raised the issue of Israeli intelligence officers using foreign passports and that they should not consider using Australian passports."
Mr Downer said the attempted forgery of a New Zealand passport provoked outrage across the Tasman.
"It was certainly raised with me in a very animated way by Phil Goff when he was the New Zealand foreign minister," Mr Downer said. "They were very, very animated about it."
The normally voluble Jewish lobby group Australia Israel Jewish Affairs Council last night declined to comment on the looming diplomatic spat. An AIJAC spokesman told The Australian its director, Colin Rubenstein, was seeking more details.
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.
Carl Jung - Aion (1951). CW 9, Part II: P.14