Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith
Australia has given Israel a week to send an unnamed diplomatic official home after an investigation concluded that Israeli secret service agency, the Mossad, forged passports of Australian citizens to use in the January assassination of a Hamas operative in Dubai.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith told the Australian parliament that Israel remained a “firm friend” but could not tolerate the endangering of its citizens as they traveled abroad.
Smith said “the abuse and counterfeiting of the passports” was “not the act of a friend” and emphasized the four Australians living in Israel who are at the center of the controversy were innocent.
The move follows the expelling of an Israeli diplomat from the UK last March over the scandal. Although the identity of that official was initially unknown, The UK Daily Telegraph revealed it was the UK-based Mossad chief.
Four Australians had their passports forged, with their images of their faces replaced with these pictures
Smith confirmed the expelled diplomat is the Mossad representative in the Israeli Embassy working out of the Australian capital Canberra. Israeli radio also confirmed the expelled British and Australian diplomats are operatives from the spy agency.
Smith also told the Australian parliament that this is not the first time Israel had forged the passports of its citizens, but did not go into detail. Israeli radio later reported that an Israeli diplomat was kicked out of the country in 2004 for his alleged involvement in helping two Israelis try to fraudulently obtain New Zealand passports.
Neither the Israeli Embassy nor Smith’s department would confirm the report Monday.
The opposition Liberal Party, which is politically conservative, called the expulsion “an over—reaction.” Colin Rubenstein, executive director of the Australia-Israel and Jewish Affairs Council, said Australia’s decision was“unhelpful” and out of step with other countries affected by the counterfeiting.
The governments of Germany, France, and Ireland, whose citizens were also caught up in the passport scandal, have not yet made any comment on what actions, if any, they will take against Israel.
Jewish-Australian political activist and author Antony Loewenstein said the expulsion would upset the Jewish community in Australia, but could lead to a “healthy debate” about the relationship the two countries have:
Anthony Lowenstein
“The way Israel behaves in Dubai, and indeed in many other parts of the world, is often to ignore local and international law, and expect the western world to support it and back it [....] Australia has long been treated like fools by Israel, and has often been more than happy to be seen as a fool, in many ways [....] The bigger question really is, that hopefully this will lead to a debate about how Israel behaves, and how Australia has often accepted that and supports that. It shows and hopefully reveals to the wider community that most of the Jewish spokespeople in this country see themselves solely as spokespeople for Israel.”
An Embassy spokesman in Canberra called the expulsion “regrettable” and “not reflective of the extensive relationship between the two nations.”
Yuval Rotem, the Israeli Ambassador to Australia, has not yet commented on the expulsion.
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And look at that sloppy LOSER Anthony Lowenstein! Hey Tony, get a shave and haircut and put on a clean shirt!
The Aussies should have severed diplomatic ties, as Israel's actions towards their allies are deplorable. Israel's slow-motion, ethnic cleansing of Palestinians are nothing short of criminal. Having recently visited Palestine, I witnessed innocent people (mostly children) being shot at with live ammo and tear gassed with my own eyes, as well as families being given 15 minutes to leave their homes, before they are bulldozed, makes me realize the true nature of this evil Zionist state – of which many Jews are ashamed of.
And SO WHAT if they did? Israel must act in her own interests, the world be damned! They’re just a bunch of Judeo-phobes and An-ti-Semites anyway!