new zealanders must be real anti-semites

Israel offers no explanation for suspected spies caught in New Zealand
CNEWS Canada

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - The government is waiting for Israel to explain why two alleged Israeli secret agents were in New Zealand illegally applying for a passport, Prime Minister Helen Cark said Monday.

The pair, Urie Zoshe Kelman, 30, and Eli Cara, 50, pleaded guilty on Friday to a charge of trying to obtain a false New Zealand passport. The pair are to be held in custody until their sentencing on July 15. The maximum sentence they face was not immediately clear.

The Wellington government suspects they are spies attached to Israel's Mossad foreign intelligence service, and Clark has demanded that the Israeli government explain what they were doing in New Zealand.

Asked Monday whether she had received a response, Clark said "No."

She declined to discuss the case or whether the men were agents of Mossad, saying "nothing more will be said until after the sentencing on July 15."

She declined comment on reports in Israel that she is demanding an apology and a pledge from the Israeli government that Mossad agents will not use New Zealand passports.

The case also has sparked a review of New Zealand passport security, with the government planning to cut from 10 to five years the time they will remain valid and make them more difficult to forge. The review also has recommended a prison sentence of 10 years for people caught falsely applying for passports.

Two other Israeli men - one identified as Ze'ev William Barkan, 37 - were also sought by New Zealand authorities in relation to the attempt to gain a passport in the name of a 30-year-old New Zealand national who is wheelchair-bound with cerebral palsy and unable to travel.

Police said they believe Barkan had fled the country while the fourth man is believed to still be in New Zealand. The others had refused to identify him.

When the men were arrested in April, acting Foreign Minister Jim Sutton said it appeared the men were "representatives of the Israeli government."