interesting item - nz and israal

Kiwi Anger
July 22, 2004

When the terrorist group Hamas praised New Zealand this week for taking a tough stance against Israel over a spying snafu, Prime Minister Helen Clark answered smartly, "If their agents were trying to penetrate the system they'd be treated exactly the same way."

Well, at least that's something, if Ms. Clark is saying she would be just as angry with a terrorist organization as she has been with a democratic state. At least Israel is given equivalent status to Hamas in her moral universe.

The issue here is over two Israelis who were caught trying to illegally obtain New Zealand passports, likely for use by Israel's Mossad intelligence agency. The two have pleaded guilty and were sentenced to prison, and Israel has not denied they are spies.

Mossad probably figured that since Ms. Clark has set her country on an anti-Western course not seen since the days of David Lange, the Kiwi passports offered good cover in the fight against terrorism.

Ms. Clark has been furious. New Zealand has retaliated with a panoply of measures, ranging from suspending high level visits (even President Moshe Katsav has seen the red carpet pulled out from under him), to canceling official meetings and delaying acceptance of a new Israeli ambassador.

What seems to bother Ms. Clark most is that Israel has not offered an apology, or so she claims. Well, actually, Israel has offered an apology, or at least that's what it sounds like to us when Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom goes on radio and says, "we are sorry about this matter. It will be dealt with and all will be done to restore Israel's long history of good relations with New Zealand."

Not abasement enough for Ms. Clark, who shot back that nothing less than a "government-to-government apology or explanation" would get Israel off the hook. But doesn't a foreign minister speak for his government?

Usually these issues are dealt with on the quiet, as Mr. Shalom suggests. When opinions are aired they hardly ever come from the leader of a nation, who usually has far more important things on her hands.

Not with Ms. Clark, who seized the moment by taking to the airwaves. "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 at one point last week, adding, "It is a sorry indictment of Israel that it has again taken such actions against a country with which it has friendly relations."

When, just as day follows night, punks hours later vandalized a Jewish cemetery in Wellington, Ms. Clark struck a defensive pose. Linking the attack to the spy case (let alone her hyperventilating comments) was "not an open and shut case," she said.

Some parts of the New Zealand press have rallied to Ms. Clark's side, praising her for showing that the country is not a "soft touch." But regarding her reaction as a display of courage seems an exaggeration. Israel is an easy target for those who routinely like to strike the outraged pose. Just this week Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has found himself barred from France for suggesting that, because of anti-Semitic attacks, French Jews might well consider relocating to Israel.

New Zealand has sorted out in its own way its disagreements with a people who also like to claim title to the land, namely the Maoris. One might expect greater sympathy for Israel when it resorts to desperate measures. It is trying to protect its statehood while surrounded by enemies like Hamas and while the Palestinian people are led by a corrupt and tyrannical regime -- as even the Palestinians themselves are now admitting.