DUCKPOND

DIPLOMATIC EXPULSION May 24, 2010

I think the crime involved warranted breaking off diplomatic relations with Israel. When nation states take to producing false passports of another country they are taking liberties to say the least. Has or can Israel deny the charge?

The assumption is that Israel, unique among the countries of the world can do what it likes, running to murder (although the Americans are now into that act). According to ABC News Online:

But Deputy Opposition Leader Julie Bishop says there is no hard proof Israel is behind the duplicated passports.

“In the absence of proof, it would be appropriate to reprimand, appropriate to chastise the Israeli government,” she told Sky News.

“There is a widely held view, there is an assumption that the Israeli government was involved, but there is no actual proof.”

Ms Bishop, the Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman, says expelling a diplomat is either an over-reaction or a calculated political decision.

“The Government is facing an election. The Government is also seeking to pursue a seat on the Security Council. The Government is keen to curry favour within the Arab community,” she said.

Ms Bishop, however, denied suggestions the Opposition’s position would help it shore up support from Australia’s Jewish community.

In February several forged Australian passports were used in the assassination of Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.

Mr Smith confirmed investigations by Australian Federal Police, ASIO and ASIS showed Israel fabricated the passports of four Australians who also had Israeli nationality.

He has rejected accusations the decision to expel an Israeli diplomat was politically driven.

Mr Smith says the Government has conducted its own investigation and acted on carefully constructed advice.

“If all we were doing as the Deputy Leader of the Opposition asserts, being political, we wouldn’t have taken such time giving it careful consideration,” he said.

“The high quality of these counterfeited passports points to involvement of a state intelligence service,” he said.

“These investigations and advice have left the Australian Government in no doubt that Israel was responsible for the abuse and counterfeiting of these passports.

Meanwhile, the charmed life of Israel is under question from reports in The Guardian that they offered to sell nuclear weapons to Apartheid South Africa and the widening boycott of Israeli products produced in the West Bank.

ELSEWHERE:

Robert Merkel at Larvatus Prodeo suspects the story was run as a political distraction.Then the Opposition, and former Foreign Minister weighed in, and it became phantasmagorical. There are questions about the ABC using Orwellian euphemisms such as “hits” for the murder of a person, but an Opposition playing to a narrow audience affected by moonshine gives the Government a free pass. I would expect the use of fake passports and identify theft would be a cause for broad condemnation. Who do the Israelis think that are? What kind of country behaves in that way?

The question arises whether this behavior it limited to Israel. I suspect it is. Therefore it is about Israel. Crickey has another view:

Foreign minister Stephen Smith described what happened with great clarity in Parliament yesterday:

“The passports in question were deliberately counterfeited and cloned for use. The high quality of these counterfeited passports points to the involvement of a state intelligence service. These investigations and advice have left the government in no doubt that Israel was responsible for the abuse and counterfeiting of these passports.

“Mr Speaker, no government can tolerate the abuse of its passports, especially by a foreign government. This represents a clear affront to the security of our passport system. Nor can we tolerate the abuse by a foreign government of the personal details of the Australian nationals concerned. These are not the actions of a friend.”

His predecessor, Alexander Downer, saw it differently. “Intelligence services around the world do this sort of thing the whole time,” Downer last night told the ABC’s PM program. “Israel is not the only country that engages in this sort of behaviour, frankly … That’s just what happens in the world of intelligence … Be realistic about it and be wide-eyed about it, not naive.”

Under the Downer doctrine, Australia should accept the reality that intelligence services forge passports all the time and ignore that it happens.

Downer is wrong and his argument is dumb. If Australia finds any country engaging in the systematic counterfeiting of its passports, it should do what the government did over recent months: investigate thoroughly and act in the national interest.

This is not about Israel.