On Tuesday it was revealed that an Israeli man named Ofer Mizrahi, who died in the February Christchurch earthquake had five or six passports on him.Apparently the other three Israeli people traveling with Mizrahi, took their own passports with them when they left the country, but before departing they handed over the deceased man’s Israeli passport to Israeli representatives.
Michal Fraidman, Liron Sade and Guy Jordan all left New Zealand within 12 hours of the quake, leaving behind their deceased traveling companion. It was also reported that Israeli ambassador Shemi Tzur arrived in Christchurch within hours of the quake and personally escorted the three survivors to the airport so they could fly back to Israel. This very unusual behaviour raised suspicions and an investigation was launched.
John Key said on Wednesday that the Israeli man killed in the van from falling debris had only one passport on him, it was not a New Zealand one and that this was not suspicious. What is suspicious though is that the man's passport was apparently handed over to Israeli officials before his traveling companions left New Zealand and not found on the deceased Mizrahi, who according to the SIS officer had five or six other passports on him. This would make John Key's claims completely untrue on two counts.
Another discrepancy is that John Key said he did not know how many passports were involved.
He also said that it's not of national interest to divulge further information. This is clearly incorrect and such obfuscation by the Prime Minster is unacceptable.
John Key said only one passport was found but the Editor for the Southland Times, Fred Tulett, said that according to an unnamed SIS officer, there were five to six passports found on the man. Tulett has no reason to lie. So who is telling the truth and why is John Key playing down the serious issue of Israeli spies gaining false passports from New Zealand?
What is also alarming is that the Israeli's sent in an unaccredited search and rescue team into the red zone who were apparently caught and then escorted out of the area. I wonder what they were looking for? It is interesting to note that Hilik Magnus, who led the private Israeli search and rescue team had previously worked for Israeli intelligence. Whether he is still a Mosad agent though is questionable."We had a scenario where we couldn't be sure, we undertook a full investigation. It didn't turn up any information... and on that basis we left it at that. We don't expect Israel to spy on us, but we have no evidence to support that they have. We simply had a very unusual set of circumstances," John Key said.
It was also reported, that New Zealand intelligence officers checked the police national computer database because of concerns that Israeli spies may have hacked into it. An Israeli forensic team in Christchurch could have had access to the Police computer system, and activities of other groups of Israelis around that time fueled the hacking concerns.
John Key said there had been "no misuse of the police computer" with Shemi Tzur backing him up by saying it's "science fiction" that Israeli spies would be working in New Zealand. The SIS officer is concerned enough with the suspicious occurrences to approach the media and divest secret information that I am sure John Key and the Israeli's would prefer was kept secret. That officer has no reason to lie and is putting their career at stake by making such information public.
In light of past Israeli spies gaining false passports from New Zealand, this is a most serious incident. Relations between Israel and New Zealand turned sower in July 2004 after two Mossad agents, Eli Cara, and Uriel Kelman, were caught and jailed for six months for trying to illegally obtain New Zealand passports. So it's not exactly "science fiction" at all.
A third suspected Mossad agent and former Israeli diplomat based in Europe, Zev Barkan, stole the identity of a tetraplegic Aucklander to fraudulently obtain his passport. Israel gave assurances at the time that such things would never occur again. Jewish media have now labelled that espionage as a minor "kerfuffle."
Another excuse they have given is that the people in the group were too young to be spies. Ofer Mizrahi is twenty three years old. If there was no potential in him being a Mosad spy, why did the SIS conduct an investigation?
Could New Zealand be a staging point for Mosad agents to gain false passports and identities so they're able to travel and undertake terrorism in other countries? Recent occurrences certainly make it appear so. It would also appear that we cannot trust our Prime Minister to be truthful, but what else is new?