-Caveat Lector- Haaretz News Updates Sun., July 25, 2004 Av 7, 5764 Israel Time: 01:30 (GMT+3)
Kiwi caper is worst of many blunders By Ze'ev Schiff The Mossad has been entangled overseas in messy affairs over the years involving the use of foreign passports, but the current New Zealand debacle has taken on unusual proportions because the New Zealand police claim that local Jews are involved. This being so, it's impossible not to regard this as a clumsy blunder that has caused needless damage, both to Israel and to the local Jewish community. It will take time and serious damage control to eradicate the legacy of this latest bungled Mossad caper. Of all countries in the world that Israel could become locked in a diplomatic mess, New Zealand should have been one of the last. It has always been considered a friendly country - but such a consideration means nothing to intelligence officers who have no diplomatic instincts and who operate without adequate supervision. As a result of past mess-ups, the intelligence service adopted a rule of avoiding as much as possible the use of local Jews in operations being carried out by Israeli agents. George Tenet, the recently resigned CIA head, would periodically remind Israeli officials of botched Mossad operations. The main question is why such bungling keeps repeating itself. All sorts of excuses will emerge to account for the Kiwi caper - none of them should be accepted. This mess has happened in a period when the Mossad has been taking on assignments that in the past were carried out by the IDF intelligence branch. In the internal wars of the intelligence community, the Mossad has abrogated an agreement known to these clandestine officials as the "Magna Carta" - an agreement that spells out a division of labor between the Mossad, IDF intelligence and the Shin Bet security service. Israel's Foreign Ministry was not informed about the shenanigans in New Zealand and was brought into the picture only after the Mossad turned to New Zealand intelligence people and asked for help to clean up the mess. The one who stopped this brushing under the carpet was Prime Minister Helen Clark. She refused to let the debris be cleared out of sight and insisted the two suspects be prosecuted on relatively stiff charges. This attitude fanned local and then foreign media interest in the affair. Israel has also had passport affair in Britain and Canada. In Britain, due to a technical foulup, blank passports were lost. The British responded assertively, but also stifled unhelpful media publicity. The affair hobbled Mossad work in Britain for many years and Israelis were declared personae non grata and expelled from Britain. In Canada, it was a case of forged passports. The incident was connected to the ill-fated and botched attempt to assassinate Hamas leader Khaled Meshal in Jordan, when Benjamin Netanyahu was prime minister. Relations with Canada were damaged and Israel had to apologize. � Copyright 2004 Haaretz. All rights reserved www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
