New Zealand should assist Britain’s investigation into the suspected misuse of British passports by Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad, Green MP Keith Locke said today.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown is launching an investigation into the use of six forged British passports in the political assassination of Hamas official Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. It also appears that forged Irish, German and French passports were used in the assassination.
“Passports are for passage, not political terrorism,” said Mr Locke, the Green Party’s foreign affairs spokesperson.
“As a victim of Mossad passport fraud in 2004, New Zealand should help the international community investigate.
“Passports are an essential travel document and we need to have faith in their validity. If a state uses fraudulent passports from other nations it violates a fundamental principle of international law, and infringes on the sovereignty of those nations,” said Mr Locke.
“We had hope Israel ended its illegal practice after New Zealand caught and imprisoned two Mossad agents six years ago for fraudulently obtaining passports.
“I’m concerned that they have not,” said Mr Locke.
“We also need to insist that Israel respect international anti-terrorist laws and stop assassinating its political foes.