New Zealand imposes sanctions against Israel!
New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark has delivered a verbal broadside and imposed diplomatic sanctions on Israel after two suspected Israeli spies were jailed for passport fraud.
Clark said the actions of the Israeli intelligence agents were utterly unacceptable and had breached New Zealand sovereignty and international law.
“New Zealand condemns without reservation these actions by agencies of the Israel government,” Clark said.
Sydney-based Eli Cara, 50, and Uriel Zoshe Kelman, 31, were jailed for six months after admitting trying to unlawfully obtain a New Zealand passport.
Clark said the government had “very strong reasons” to believe the two were acting on behalf of Israel’s intelligence services.
She said their actions had seriously strained New Zealand’s relationship with Israel.
Earlier this month, Cara and Kelman pleaded guilty to one charge of participating in an organised crime group by attempting to unlawfully obtain a New Zealand passport.
A third man, Zev William Barkan, applied for a passport in the name of a wheelchair-bound cerebral palsy sufferer but escaped arrest by returning to Sydney three days before Cara and Kelman were picked up by police.
A fourth man was also believed to be involved but has not been identified.
Clark said New Zealand had asked for an explanation and apology from the Israel government three months ago, but none had been forthcoming.
New Zealand has now imposed a number of sanctions on Israel, including blocking any requests for Israeli President Moshe Katsov to visit the country after a proposed trip to Australia next month.
The government has suspended high-level visits and exchanges with Israel and cancelled planned foreign ministry talks due later this year.
Approval for the appointment of a new Israeli ambassador has been delayed and Israelis visiting New Zealand on government business will now have to apply for a visa.
Israel’s acting ambassador in Australia, Orma Sagiv, tonight said Israel would be working to rebuild relations with New Zealand.
Their lawyers told the High Court in Auckland that the men’s lives would now be at risk because of the Mossad allegations, as terrorist organisations frequently targeted people either known or believed to have connections to the Israeli secret service.
Justice Judith Potter said offences that threatened the integrity of the New Zealand passport system would be seriously viewed by the courts.
“It’s difficult to see why anyone would want a false New Zealand passport unless it was intended to be used in a way ancillary to some other offending,” Justice Potter said.
“That offending is likely to be serious or perhaps very serious.”
Cara and Kelman, who had faced a maximum five years’ jail, will pay a combined $NZ100,000 ($90,300) to a cerebral palsy charity.
New Zealand does haka on Israel!
Tut tut :nono: :nono: the meddling israeli government and its mossad at it again talk about low using a wheelchair-bound cerebral palsy sufferer to gain fake passports,causing problems, spying, lying and stealing in other countries, and they wonder why palestinians and rest of world don’t trust them!