Fraudulently obtain passports...

[madkins]

10

Sydney Morning Herald
Two Mossad spies jailed in New Zealand
By Vernon Small and Michael Pelly
July 16, 2004


Israeli citizens Eli Cara (left) and Uriel Zoshe Kelman were sentenced to six months' jail for attempting to fraudulently obtain New Zealand passports. Photo: AFP


Australia is to step up its investigation of a suspected Israeli spy ring following the imprisonment of two Mossad agents in New Zealand yesterday for passport fraud.

One of the jailed spies, Eli Cara, 50, spent a significant amount of time in Australia and a house he used in Turramurra was raided shortly before his arrest in Auckland in March. Australian authorities had been told two ot
er men had slipped the net in New Zealand, but the house was deserted.

"It was quite clear that people had left in a fair hurry," a spokesman for the Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, said
r
last night. He said investigations into suspected Mossad
spies on Australian soil were continuing.

New Zealand's Prime Minister, Helen Clark, said she would reduce contact with Israel and slated it for its refusal to apologise or explain the actions of the two jailed men.

Cara and Uriel Kelman, 31, will be deported to Israel after serving their six-month sentence for attempting to obtain a passport in the name of an Auckland cerebral palsy sufferer. They have also been ordered to pay $50,000 each to a cerebral palsy charity.

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New Zealand police are still looking for the man who the spies named as the ringleader of their scam, Zev William Barkan. It is not clear if he was one of the men Australian police were looking for in the raid on the h
ouse in Turramurra.

Justice Judith Potter said it could be assumed a false passport would be used for criminal activity, perhaps "very serious".

The court heard that both Car
a a
nd Kelman had done compulsory service with the Israeli armed forces, were university edu
cated and active in synagogues and communities.

Cara's lawyer, Stuart Grieve, said his client had moved to Australia four years ago after retiring from a career with the air force.

He said Cara had a travel business connected to an Israel-based agency promoting eco-tourism in Australia and New Zealand. However, a search of company and title records revealed he had no listed business interests in Sydney.

He had travelled to New Zealand 24 times in recent years for business and family holidays. The court heard that Kelman, who studied mathematics and physics, was a tireless voluntary worker who brought joy to the disabled.

Mr Grieve said the men and their families would be at risk for the res
t of their lives from terrorists targeting anyone connected with Mossad.

Miss Clark said the

actions of the two men had seriously strained relations with Israel.

She s
aid New
Zealand would suspend high-level visits from and to Israel. Any request for a visit by the Israeli President, Mo
she Katsav, in August, in association with a proposed visit to Australia, would be declined.

The case is the first known example of foreign agents appearing in a New Zealand court since the 1985 arrest of the Rainbow Warrior bombers.

Skara Brae.

madkins

 

[Border Ruffian]

10

New Zealand isn't tolerating it. I suspect they have no interest in having "islamic attacks" on their soil or having their land used to facilitate "9-11" type incidents which might occur in other countries.

jewish spies

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/austra...sp?story=541474

New Zealand suspended high-level diplomatic relations with Israel yesterday after two suspected Mossad agents were jailed for six months for passport fraud.
br>
Uriel Zoshe Kelman and Eli Cara were sentenced at Auckland High Court for trying to obtain a passport in the name of a wheelchair-bound man with cerebral palsy. Minutes later, New Zealand's Prime

Minister, Helen Clark, launched a blistering attack on Israel, saying its actions had "seriously strained" relations betwee
n the two countries.

A furious Ms Clark said her government regarded "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".

The affair is being cited as the biggest diplomatic row to hit New Zealand since the Rainbow Warrior debacle of 1985, when the country severed relations with France after French secret agents sunk the Greenpeace flagship in Auckland Harbour.

Kelman, 30, and Cara, 50, were arrested in March after a passport officer became suspicious of a telephone call. He noted that the caller had an American or Canadian accent and called
the disabled man's father. The pair had obtained the man's birth certificate and were using it in their attempt to secure a passport. One claimed to be a travel agent from Sydney, although th
ere
was no evidence that he operated a business in Australia.

The men's motives were not clear, but a New Zealand passport is regarded as anodyne and guarant
ees visa-free access to many countries.

Two other Israelis believed to be involved in the attempted fraud left the country before it was uncovered, police said. One was named as Zev William Barkan, 36; the identity of the other man was not known. The four had travelled in and out of New Zealand on numerous occasions in the past four years.

Kelman and Cara denied being members of Mossad, but Ms Clark made clear that she had no doubts about their identities. "New Zealand condemns without reservations these actions by agencies of the Israeli government," she said.

She announced diplomatic sanctions including the suspensio
n of high-level visits to Israel by New Zealand government officials and a veto on a request by the Israeli President, Moshe Katsav, to visit the country next month.

The Wellington gove
rnment
also cancelled talks planned between the two foreign ministries later this year and said any Israelis visiting New Zealand on government business would have to apply for a visa. Approva
l of the appointment of a new Israeli ambassador to New Zealand has been put on hold.

The two men both admitted trying to obtain a New Zealand passport illegally, which carries a maximum penalty of five years. They also admitted working with organised crime gangs to obtain a false passport.

The relatively light sentence was handed down after they changed their plea to guilty at a court hearing two weeks ago. As well as being jailed they were ordered to give $50,000 (Ô�Å¡£17,500) to the Cerebral Palsy Society of New Zealand.

Silvan Shalom, Israel's Foreign Minister, said Israel would work to restore diplomat
ic relations with New Zealand, adding: "Israel has a long tradition of excellent relations with New Zealand, and we will do everything necessary - together with the New Zealand gov
ernment -
to restore relations."