there govt. should be treated very suspiciously....
Israeli official wants NZ Customs staff disciplined over search of diplomat
10.05.2004 1.00pm - By YEHONATHAN TOMMER JERUSALEM - A senior Israeli Jewish Agency official has protested to Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom after claiming he was subjected to a humiliating search and interrogation by New Zealand customs officials at Auckland Airport last week.
A spokesman for the minister confirmed today that he had received a letter from Jewish Agency Treasurer Shay Hermesh and "is aware of the situation", but declined to indicate what action would be taken.
A copy of the letter was also forwarded to Canberra to the embassy's acting Ambassador non-resident and non-resident envoy in Wellington, Orna Segev.
In his sharply-worded complaint to the minister detailing his three-hour ordeal, Mr Hermesh said he was treated like a suspected drug dealer.
Mr Hermesh said he and his aide, Yigal Selah, were taken aside to a huge auditorium where the contents of their suitcases were stripped to their minutest items.
"Each tie and every sock was examined by detection devices for dangerous chemicals. My diary aroused special interest.
"What business is it of theirs who I meet with and when?"
Mr Hermesh said that Mr Selah's mobile phone was seized as he attempted to make contact with their hosts, representing Auckland's 4000-strong Jewish community.
He said the phone was dismantled in search of suspected wiretapping and other spying devices.
A junior customs official conducting the interrogation asked whether Mr Hermesh had been dispatched to New Zealand as an "opium dealer".
Mr Hermesh said that to add insult to injury, a senior airport official arriving on the scene in response to their protests, declined to give assistance.
To their astonishment, he told them that all Israelis were suspects.
Mr Hermesh said that the pair was told "only drug smugglers, criminals and murderers come from your country".
Mr Hermesh, whose status in the World Zionist Organisation ranks with a senior Israeli Cabinet Minister, was travelling on a "government service" issued passport, internationally recognised as a diplomatic equivalent. Mr Hermesh and Mr Selah were allowed to leave the airport only after they had shown the officials their return airline tickets to Israel.
The incident was widely reported on Sunday in the Israeli media, and linked as fall-out to the two arrested Israelis, Elisha Kara and Uri Kelman, who are awaiting trial in Auckland as suspected Mossad agents charged with forging New Zealand passports.
Speaking today with NZPA by telephone from his hotel in Melbourne, where he is a guest of the local Jewish community, Mr Hermesh said that he expected disciplinary action against the two airport customs officials, who could be identified by the signed reports they had presumably filed of the incident.
"They exercised a total lack of judgment, like officials of a terrorist state. I am sure their individual behaviour does not reflect government policy and hope my experience does not augur bad times for Israeli visitors in New Zealand.
"But I expect Wellington to assure Israelis that they are as welcome in New Zealand as the citizens of other countries."
Customs and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials said yesterday they had not received a complaint from Mr Hermesh.
A Customs spokeswoman said there were differences in diplomatic passports. To gain exemptions an individual had to be diplomatically accredited to New Zealand or have a special visa.
"If you have a diplomatic passport and no accreditation you are subject to normal process."
