Australian-Israel ties in ‘big crisis,’ Jerusalem says

Shortly after forged passport issue came to light, Canberra effectively ignored Israeli Embassy.

By HERB KEINON
Mabhouh 311 AP (photo credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Mabhouh 311 AP
(photo credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Diplomatic officials in Jerusalem on Tuesday termed Australia’s eviction of an Israeli diplomat a day earlier a “big crisis” in tiesbetween the two countries, and one that will take considerable effortand some time to overcome.
Canberra on Monday announced thatafter an internal investigation it concluded that Israel was behind theforgery of Australian passports used in the killing of Hamas commanderMahmoud al-Mabhouh in a Dubai hotel, and as a result was giving anIsraeli diplomat a week to leave the country.
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Although the name of the diplomat has not been revealed, he is widely believed to be the Mossad’s station chief in Australia.Sources told The Jerusalem Post that shortly after Israel’s envoy to Australia, Yuval Rotem, was called into the Australian Foreign Ministry in February and “dressed down” over the issue, “the level of contacts between the embassy and the government was severely reduced, and for six weeks there was absolutely no contact.” 
According to the sources, only in the last few weeks have there been meetings between embassy staff and top government officials, including one recently with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s national security adviser.
The situation is expected to further deteriorate, with Foreign Minister Stephen Smith telling the press Monday that Australia has traditionally “had a close and firm friendship with Israel. In the past that has included cooperation on intelligence cooperation matters. Clearly, as a result of today’s events, there will be something of a cooling-off period, so far as relevant agencies are concerned. And just as in the United Kingdom, time will tell how long that may or may not be.”
Britain kicked an Israeli diplomat out of London in March over the issue, and three other countries whose passports were allegedly misused – Ireland, France and Germany – are still conducting investigations. An Irish decision on the matter is expected in a matter of days.
Smith added, however, that “from the government’s perspective, we want to have a good relationship with Israel … We believe it is in our national interest and Israel’s national interest for there to be cooperation on intelligence and security matters, particularly, for example, in some of the challenges that confronts not just Israel, not just the Middle East but the international community, for example, Iran’s nuclear program.”
Israeli officials said it was unclear how long the “cooling-off period” in intelligence and security cooperation would continue.
Smith said that the incident would not impact on Australia’s generally favorable voting record on Israel in international bodies, and denied it had done so in the past.
In February Israeli officials said that the episode might have been thereason why Australia chose to abstain, rather than vote for Israel, ona vote in the UN General Assembly to keep the Goldstone CommissionReport alive.
Sources pointed out, however, that since the Rudd government came intopower some 2-1/2 years ago, there has been a “slippage” in Canberra’svoting record on Israel and that it pre-dated the Dubai hit.
Colin Rubenstein, head of the Australia/Israel & Jewish AffairsCouncil, issued a statement saying that while the organizationunderstood and sympathized with the government’s responsibility toprotect the integrity of the Australian passport system, kicking outthe Israeli diplomat was overkill.
“In our view, this response was unhelpful,” Rubenstein said. “Australiahas already made clear its displeasure over the abuse of Australianpassports in the strongest of possible terms, which we believe wasadequate to fulfill the Government’s responsibilities.”
The move continued to generate controversy in Australia, with top Australian politicians at odds on Tuesday over the matter.
Smith charged that opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishopwas “not fit to occupy a position of trust,” over her response to theaffair, according to The Australian.
Bishop said Monday there was no hard proof Israel was behind theduplicated passports, and that the government’s actions were an attemptto “curry favor” within the Arab community, and win a seat on the UNSecurity Council.
The Sydney Morning Herald on Tuesday quoted her assaying that Australia has also forged passports in the past.