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Prime Minister John Key, visiting the USA at the time, has assured New Zealanders that the police and SIS have concluded the Israeli youths were harmless backpackers, and concerns that the forensic team might have hacked the police intelligence database have proved to be groundless. However, given the Mossad passport fraud fiasco in 2004, which saw two Israelis jailed, and two others fleeing the country, including top Mossad operative Zev Barkan, many New Zealanders, including the news media, have remained skeptical.
Israeli Backpackers Caught in Christchurch Earthquake
Initial reports stated that three Israeli backpackers were among the 181 killed in the Christchurch earthquake of February 22. The three who died are: Ofer Mizrahi, Ofer Levy, and Gabi Ingel. Mizrahi had been crushed in a van, while three others with him had managed to escape: Michal Fraidman, Guy Jordan, and Liron Sade.
The Southland Times broke the story after receiving information from an SIS whistle blower.[1] The question occurs as to whether the SIS informant was dissatisfied with the manner by which the investigation was being dealt with. While the police and SIS - we are told - found no evidence that computer intelligence data had been hacked, this cannot be said to prove that Mossad was not operative in Christchurch.
The Southland Times reported:
The "unusual" behavior of Israelis in the wake of the Christchurch earthquake sparked a top level investigation, Prime Minister John Key has confirmed. After almost a day of stonewalling, Key confirmed the probe, which involved the spy agency SIS, concluded there was no evidence they were Israeli intelligence agents. In a carefully worded statement, he also verified a dead Israeli van driver had two passports. Three occupants who escaped the wreckage took their passports back to Israel, he said.[2]The unusual aspects of the matter include:
- The rapid departure of the three surviving Israelis from New Zealand.
- Confirmation that elite SAS troops were in Christchurch's red zone after the disaster - although the Defense Department states they weren't dealing with an unaccredited rescue squad (Magnus International Search & Rescue).
- Changing claims about the number of passports held by the deceased Mizrahi: Initial Southland Times reports stated that he had five passports. Israel's ambassador to Australia and New Zealand, Shemi Tzur, states that he was aware that Mizrahi had been "carrying more than one passport" when identification checks were being made of the earthquake victims, and states that he was handed a package of Mizrahi's effects which "did contain more than one passport."[3] Then Prime Minster Key stated that Mizrahi only had one passport, after having previously stated there were multiple passports.[4]
- In the aftermath of the February 22 earthquake, Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu phoned Key on four occasions the same day. Was Netanyahu wanting to talk to Key as one Zionist to another?
- Israel's civil defense chief arrived in Christchurch at the same time as the Magnus rescue team.
- The only reaction of the three Israelis who escaped the crushed van seems to have been to photograph the van, before reaching an emergency point set up by Israeli officials, and departing to Israel "within 12 hours."[5]
What added to the suspicions were Prime Minster Key's obfuscating replies on initial enquiry.
Key refused to answer questions about the revelations when he was grilled by reporters this morning, saying it was not in the "national interest." He did not dispute there were a number of passports involved and said there was nothing illegal in someone holding more than one. In this afternoon's statement he said he had been advised the dead man was found with only one passport, of European origin. [7]The claim that Mizrahi only had one passport of "European origin" does not sound plausible. One would expect that he would also have an Israeli passport. Israeli Ambassador Tzur had already stated Mizrahi had "more than one" passport. Why the discrepancy in reporting on the number of passports? The "five passports" were said to have been found on Mizrahi at the morgue. The Israeli forensic analysis team had been sent by the Israeli Government to work on victim identification at the morgue.
The SIS became suspicious of the team after the five (or two, or one or "more than one") passports had been found on Mizrahi, along with other suspicious activities mentioned above, in addition to "a mysterious seventh Israeli, in New Zealand illegally, who was s reported missing in the quake, then weeks later was reported to have left the country."[8] Police have refused to comment on what happened to the van and what was found within.[9]
Lovely Young Tourists
Several individuals have come onto radio talkback and television news to say that they encountered the Israeli backpackers when holidaying. They have remarked on what relaxed, nice young folk the Israelis were. There have also been comments that they were too young to be Mossad agents. They were all in the early twenties. Ambassador Tzur stated: "These were youngsters holidaying in your beautiful country.... [W]e encourage our young people to visit New Zealand."[10]
In the aftermath of 9/11, it became widely known that Israeli agents masqueraded as "art students" in the USA. Appearing as "backpackers" in New Zealand, the destination of thousands of Israeli tourists, (there were 3,000 in New Zealand at the time of the February earthquake) would be most apt for that country's situation. During 2000-2001 the "art students" gained access to the offices and homes of Federal law enforcement officials, U.S. military bases, and other sensitive sites. The FBI, DEA and INS leaked documents relating to 120 "art students" that they had under surveillance.[11] Houston's CBS affiliate, KHOU-TV, ran a story on the arrest of "Israeli art students":
Fifteen People Arrested in March in Dallas, Suspected of Casing Federal Buildings. 11News reported how people claiming to be "Israeli art students" might be trying to sneak into federal buildings and defense sites, and even doing surveillance. In Dallas, the so-called students hit early this year at the city's FBI building, the Drug Enforcement Administration and at the Earle Cabell Federal building, where guards found one student wandering the halls with a floor plan of the building.[12]Wayne Madsen comments:
When trying to access the full story on the TV station's web site, one receives the following message: "The page you requested could not be found." However, Channel 11 News' terrorism expert and former Defense Department analyst Ron Hatchett said the Israeli activity was "obvious surveillance" and "not a bunch of kids selling artwork." A Federal Protective Service memo, obtained by KHOU after Israelis were seen casing the Leland Federal office building in Houston, stated, "Federal sites have experienced an inundation of art solicitations at office buildings by students claiming to be selling Israeli art."[13]Madsen states that according to his own informants the "art students" had also visited the offices of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) in Washington, DC and the headquarters of the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) in Arlington, Virginia.[14]
Other suspicious activity from Israelis at the very time of the Twin Towers attacks involved the office moving company Urban Moving Systems, five of whose employees were arrested.
The Israelis were later linked to an Israeli-owned office moving company called Urban Moving Systems headquartered in Weehawken, New Jersey at 3 West 18th Street. Another Urban Moving office was located on West 50th Street in Manhattan. Urban Moving's owner, Dominik Otto Suter, fled to Israel shortly before he was to be re-questioned by the FBI.[15]One of the five Israelis had a ticket for Bangkok and was due to fly out on September 13th.[16] The New York Department of Transportation revoked Urban Moving Systems' license after it was discovered that its Manhattan business address was merely a post office box.[17]Here we have broadly similar elements that could be applied to the Christchurch scenario: "Art students" in one and "backpackers" in the other; an "office moving company" and a "search and rescue team."
Mossad Passport Fraud
It has been asked why Mossad would bother about New Zealand. The immediate answer is that New Zealand passports are the most sought after. Passports are of major interest for Mossad. Former Mossad agent Victor Ovstrovsky writes of his training:
The next lecture was more to the point. It was delivered by Pinhas Aderet and had to do with documentation: passports, ID cards, credit cards, driver's licenses, and so on. The most important Mossad documents are passports, and there are four qualities: top, second, field operation, and throwaway. [18]Ovstrovsky reports on the extensive Mossad operations dealing with passports, their theft or forgery, including the manufacture of the special paper at a factory. He states:
When I viewed the factory as a trainee, I saw a large batch of blank Canadian passports. They must have been stolen. It looked like an entire shipment. There were over 1,000 of them.... The Mossad also have a major collection of passport stamps and signatures that they use to stamp their own passports.[19]With the quality passports come full identity documentation, and cover stories.[20] This explains why the police were so concerned that an Israeli forensic team could have hacked the police intelligence database. Investigative journalist Nicky Hager, who has specialized on security intelligence matters, stated that secret information on the police national computer database would be highly valuable for espionage purposes. "You've got potential names you could steal and use, you've got all their backgrounds."[21] The Dominion Post report on this aspect states:
It emerged yesterday that the Security Intelligence Service ordered a review of the national police computer system amid fears that Israeli agents had gained access to it after the Christchurch quake by loading sophisticated malware to obtain highly sensitive intelligence files.[22]Apologists for Israel are typically indignant that any such suspicions could be entertained. However, it is a matter of "one bitten, twice shy." In 2004 there was a major diplomatic incident when Israelis in New Zealand were found to be stealing identities and faking passports. The New Zealand Herald broke the story in April 2004, stating that two men, believed to be Israeli secret service agents, were arrested in Auckland while trying to obtain a false New Zealand passport.
They had been nabbed as part of a police operation. The Israeli Government wanted the matter kept out of the courts, but the Labour Government, would not bow to pressure. The two Israelis caught were Urie Zoshe Kelman and Eli Cara. Zev Barkan fled the country.
The group had been in and out of the country since last November. Cara, who says he is a Sydney-based travel agent, has travelled in and out 24 times since October 2000. The court heard that the visits since last year were allegedly for the purpose of obtaining a false New Zealand identity for one of them. They allegedly made a passport application using a birth certificate of a cerebral palsy sufferer who authorities say was an innocent victim of the scam.[23]A fourth man, Tony Resnick, who suddenly left New Zealand in March 2004, was a paramedic for St John's Ambulance, and later a healthcare lecturer at Auckland University. It is believed that in his role as a paramedic he had visited the targeted sufferer of cerebral palsy. He was also a member of the NZ Jewish Council.
The Herald report referred to fraudulent Canadian passports used by Mossad in 1997 in a failed assassination attempt on an Islamic official in Jordan. In 2000 a Mossad operative was given a suspended sentence after being accused of espionage and repeated use of false identity documents in Switzerland.[24]
According to a Ha'aretz article, Kelman had entered New Zealand in 1999 on a Canadian passport, "Despite Israel's promise to Canada that passports from that country would not be used in undercover operations."[25] The matter of Israel having promised New Zealand in 2004 that such actions would not happen again has been raised by Labour Opposition Leader Phil Goff, who had at the time of the 2004 debacle been Foreign Minister. Goff has stated in regard to this and Prime Minister Key's less than forthcoming approach to the current matter:
We were up-front about that at the time that it happened. I got an absolute assurance in writing from the Israeli minister of foreign affairs that this would not happen again. We need to be sure that it has not happened again."[26]One would have to be naïve to accept the word of the Israeli Government on anything.
Zev Barkan
There continues to be some quips on the amateurishness of the 2004 affair, and comments that Mossad would not foul up so appallingly. However, the presence of Zev Barkan at the time indicates that New Zealand is an important element in Mossad operations. Barkan is still wanted by New Zealand police is connection with the 2004 affair. A Southland Times report, reprinted in the Dominion Post, states of Barkan that "last year he was named one of 32 people Dubai police suspected of having a role in the assassination of Hamas military leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in a hotel last January.
Four fake Australian passports were used by the team responsible for the killing."[27] Ambassador Tzur is naturally dismissive of any suggestion of a Mossad connection with the Christchurch matter, which he calls as "science fiction." However he has also dismissed reports of Barkan's involvement in the Mahmoud assassination, despite his admission that he knew little about the matter.[28]
Shortly after the trial of Kelman and Cara, Barkan was reported by the Sydney Morning Herald as being in North Korea, using a fraudulent Canadian passport,[29] with the name Kevin Hunter.[30] The question might be asked: what was a Mossad operative doing in North Korea, one of the so-called "Axis of Evil." He was brought in as a "security consultant" to advise on building a "security wall",[31] presumably of the type built in Israel to corral Palestinians. This indicates something of the covert diplomacy with states that are barely suspected of having any relationship with Israel.
In 2005, Barkan was named in the Cambodian media as "running a studio making snuff and porn movies in the Mekong River town of Pen Yauin in Cambodia." In a professional studio, girls from New Zealand and Australia - students and tourists - were lured into thinking they were to become movie stars. At first they made porn in studios behind a bar in Phnom Phen, then branched out into films of hangings and killings of vagrants, and suicide films.[32]
Barkan seems to be the senior Mossad operative in this region. A Sydney Morning Herald report revealed:
The fugitive Israeli Mossad intelligence agent Zev Barkan has been dealing with Asian criminal gangs to obtain Australian and other passports stolen in Asia, a New Zealand aid worker has said.Several factors can be noted:
Barkan has been named by New Zealand authorities as the kingpin in a passport scam for which two Israelis with Australian links were jailed for six months last week in Auckland.
Barkan fled New Zealand before police swooped. There are unconfirmed reports that Barkan, allegedly using a fraudulent Canadian passport, has since made visits to North Korea.
The New Zealand aid worker, who has intelligence connections in Asia, said Barkan was also connected to an Israeli security company operating out of Thailand.
"He goes to Laos, Cambodia, Burma and Thailand and deals with gangs who rob tourists of their valuables and passports," the aid worker said.
"Barkan is mostly interested in passports and there have been a number of Australian passports."
Intelligence analysts in New Zealand believe Barkan, a former navy diver in the Israeli Defense Force, was trying to secure a "clean" passport for use in a sensitive Israeli undercover operation in the region, less risky than a forged passport.
The Herald has also been told that Barkan had grown up in Washington as Zev Bruckenstein, where his father was director of religious studies at a synagogue.[33]
- Barkan had a similar military background to those employed by Magnus international Search & Rescue (see below);
- Barkan's association with an "Israeli security company" in Thailand;
- His association with organized crime.
The association of Barkan, et al, with porn and snuff movies, and their luring of Australian and New Zealand girls into their quagmire is not atypical. Zionism and organized crime have historically worked at all levels, high and low, and Israel has provided a safe haven for Jewish gangsters under the "law of return." In 1945 Bugsy Siegel began providing funds and weapons to the Haganah in their fight against the British in Palestine, after a meeting between Siegel and Reuven Dafne, emissary of the embryonic Israeli army.[34]
Doc Stacher, one of the Meyer Lansky syndicate, reached Israel in 1964, after having problems with the IRS. Meyer Lansky, a close friend of Zionist financier Samuel Rothberg, was only returned from Israel to the USA when Israel required Phantom jets, and they found it expedient to sacrifice an old friend, who nonetheless stayed out of jail. Moe Dalitz, an old time gangster from Cleveland received the Anti-Defamation League's "Torch of Freedom" award in 1985 for his large donations to Israel, garnered form his murderous criminal regime over the decades. Mo Sedgway, a Lansky colleague and leading figure in Las Vegas, also served as chairman of the Nevada United Jewish Appeal.
Max Fisher, founder of the Republican Jewish Coalition, and an important presidential adviser on the Middle East since the time of Eisenhower, started as a bagman for the Purple Gang that smuggled Bronfman whiskey from Canada to the USA. Fisher became chairman of United Brands, a firm accused of major narcotics smuggling from South America. He headed sundry Zionist organizations such as the UJA, Council of Jewish Federations, and the American Jewish Committee.[35]
As for the Barkan association with pornography, and the enticement of girls into the racket, Israel itself is a center of this, the focus being on Eastern European girls who are lured to Israel with false promises, their passports taken, and kept in a state of drugged stupor.[36] A closer analogy to Barkan is that of Arie Scher, who operated child prostitution sessions whilst also serving as administration consul for the Israeli consulate in Rio de Janeiro, and at some time had served a consul general.
Scher catered for Israeli tourists at his residence. When Brazilian police attempted to arrest him for "exploiting minors and prostituting them" he hid out at the consulate. He then escaped back to Israel via Argentina.[37] Once Scher had reached the safety of the criminal state, not only was nothing done, but five years later Israel aimed to have him serve as a diplomat in Australia, despite Brazilian police having asked Interpol to arrest Scher should he leave Israel.[38] A spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Mark Regev, commented that Scher "was a young and single man at the time. Now he is married and he's six years older and there is no reason why he shouldn't make an excellent diplomatic appointment in Australia."[39]
Ironically Scher was supposed to replace Amir Laty who, after just eighteen months, had been expelled from Australia for espionage activities, while his tendency to pester women was also regarded as inappropriate. It had been Laty who had gone to New Zealand in 2004 to visit Cara and Kelman in jail. Australian ABC Radio journalist Louise Yaxley reported: "That visit could have been part of Mr. Laty's consular duties but there are suggestions it was much more and that his links to a bungled operation in New Zealand are the real reason he had to get out of Australia."[40]
Magnus International Search & Rescue
What was the SIS interest in the Israeli search and rescue team that had apparently been hired by the young Israelis' parents? The assistance of the team, from Magnus International Search & Rescue, was rejected apparently because it did not have accreditation from the United Nations. That was not unique. There were others who were similarly rejected. However, it is reported that the team went into the "red zone" of the central city anyway. The team was reported to have been funded by the parents of Ofer Levy and Gabi Ingel. Appeals by the parents for the team to be able to assist had been "dismissed by New Zealand authorities"; however, they reached New Zealand and were discovered in the "red zone" of the city.[41]
As with the number of Mizrahi passports, there is disagreement as to what transpired between the team and the police. Media reports state that the Israeli rescue team found in the "red zone" was removed by "armed New Zealand officers." "That confrontation is said to have led to intense diplomatic exchanges between New Zealand and Israel, though police have refused to comment on the incident or even acknowledge that it happened...."[42] However, Hilik Magnus, founder of Magnus Search & Rescue, states that the team had entered the "red zone" "accompanied by police." More discrepancies. If the team entered with the assistance of police, despite the reports asserting that they were accompanied out under armed escort, why have NZ Police not commented on the matter?
No request by New Zealand had been made for a search and rescue team from Israel, nor had the NZ Government received advance notice of the team's intention to come to New Zealand, according to the Foreign Affairs Department.[43] Amidst these conflicting stories, what had not been picked up by any source was that the founder of Magnus International Search & Rescue, Yechiel "Hilik" Magnus, is a veteran Mossad operative. His profile on the company website states that,
He served in the Israel Defense Forces in an elite paratrooper battalion specializing in special operations. He fought in the Attrition War, First Lebanon War and the Yom Kippur War, remained a reserve officer for twenty years and served also in the intelligence community.[44]The profile further states of Magnus that "he has built a unique network of contacts with authorities and private organizations across the world, advised foreign governments and security forces..." The company is also involved in legal matters, hostage negotiations, and rehabilitating Israeli drug addicts overseas. It operates in what is described as "high risk areas around the world." The other key figures of the company are all former specialist officers of the Israeli Defense Force.[45]
The enquiries are not yet completed, but John Key seems to be more bothered by the SIS "whistle blower" who was presumably concerned about aspects of the enquiries, than about the possibilities of Mossad at work again in New Zealand. Key received much criticism for his initial refusal to answer questions on the SIS and police enquiries, stating that it was "not in the national interest."[46] Was this "national interest" also Israel's given Key's commitment to strengthening ties with Zionist state, as well as having personal attachments? Just after being elected in 2008, Key's interests in Israel were reported by the National Business Review:
New Prime Minister John Key has pledged to continue rebuilding strong ties between New Zealand and Israel.As of this writing Key has issued a decisive order: "get rid of the SIS whistle blower."
"Israel is a country that I haven't had the opportunity to visit, but one for which I definitely have a great respect, especially in its economic growth and high-tech strength," Mr. Key said in a telephone interview with Israel Radio on Tuesday.
The Mossad spy affair involving forgeries of New Zealand passports four years ago which led to a prolonged suspension of ties, "should be put behind us," Mr. Key said.
"We want the relations to be on a strong foundation and a strong footing to allow us to move forward. That's my intention."
He spoke of his "historic connections" to Judaism and Israel. "I have a Jewish mother and grandmother who lived in Israel for some time and I have relatives there, whom I have not seen since my own childhood."[47]:
Notes
[1] "Investigation cleared Israelis of spy claims: PM", Southland Times, July 20, 2011.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Fred Tulett, "Spy theory sci-fi, says diplomat, The Dominion Post, Wellington, New Zealand, July 20, 2011, A5.
[4] Fred Tulett and Tracy Watkins, "Israeli 'spy' story won't die," The Dominion Post, July 21, 2011, A1.
[5] Fred Tulett, "Did Israeli agents hack NZ's police computer?" The Dominion Post, ibid., A1.
[6] "Investigation cleared Israelis of spy claims: PM", Southland Times, op. cit.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Fred Tulett, "Did Israeli agents hack NZ's police computer?" op. cit., A1, A5.
[9] "Police keep silent on van," The Dominion Post, July 21, 2011, A1.
[10]Fred Tulett, "Spy theory sc-fi, says diplomat," Dominion Post, July 20, 2011, A5.
[11] Wayne Madsen, "The Israeli Arts Students and Movers Story."
[12] Anna Werner, "Federal Buildings Could Be In Jeopardy - In Houston and Nationally; Government guards have found so-called students trying to get into secure buildings," KHOU-TV 11 News, October 1, 2001.
[13] Wayne Madsen, op. cit.
[14] Wayne Madsen, ibid.
[15] Neil Mackay, "Five Israelis were seen filming from the van on the right as jet liners ploughed into the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. Were they part of a massive spy ring which shadowed the 911 hijackers and knew that al-Qaeda planned a devastating terrorist attack on the USA?" Sunday Herald, November 2, 2003, p. 1.
[16] Jim Galloway, "Innocent Israelis Caught Up in Arrests," Palm Beach Post, November 18, 2001, p. 21A.
[17] Wayne Madsen, op. cit.
[18] V Ovstreovksy, By Way of Deception: The Making and Unmaking of a Mossad Officer (New York: St Martin's Press, 1990), p. 73.
[19] V Ovstreovksy, ibid., p. 75.
[20] V Ovstreovksy, ibid., p. 74.
[21] Lane Nichols, "Police database like gold to spies, says SIS expert Hager," Dominion Post, July 21, 2011, A2.
[22] Lane Nichols, ibid.
[23] Bridget Carter, Tony Stickley, Eugene Bingham, "Foreign spy charges whip up top-level security storm," NZ Herald, April 17, 2004, p. 1.
[24] Bridget Carter, ibid.
[25] Yossi Melman and Chemi Shalev, Ha'aretz Service, April 23, 2004.
[26] Fred Trulett and Tracy Watkins, "Israeli spy story won't die," Dominion Post, July 21, 2011, A1.
[27] Jared Morgan, "Passport scam suspect still on the run," Dominion Post, July 20, 2011, A5.
[28] "Zev Barkan, an Israeli spy in NZ linked to Mossad's killing in Dubai," May 8, 2010.
[29] Jared Morgan, op. cit.
[30] Justin Raimondo, "Passport to terror," Antiwar,com, August 7, 2004.
[31] Justin Raimondo, ibid.
[32] Jared Morgan, op. cit..
[33] Craig Skehan, "Mossad agent linked to Asia scam," Sydney Morning Herald, July 19, 2004.
[34] "Jewish gangsters," Jewish Virtual Library.
[35] "Max M Fisher, icon of American and World Jewry is honoured by United Jewish Communities and Jewish Federations of North America," The Jewish Federation of North America, September 19, 2002.
[36] Aryeh Dayan, "Price of a Woman: Are police involved in Israel's growing traffic in women? Is the establishment turning a blind eye?," Ha'aretz, February 26, 2001.
[37] "Wanted Israeli diplomat flees Brazil," BBC News, July 5, 2000.
[38] Jeff Hook, "The Jew who fled Rio: Pedophile Diplomat Arie Scher has resurfaced, Argentina Indymedia, February 17, 2005, http://argentina.indymedia.org/news/2005/02/265665_comment.php?theme=1
[39] "What tha? of the week," Melbourne Independent Media Center, February 16, 2005.
[40] Louise Yaxley, "AM," ABC Local Radio, February 19, 2005.
[41] Fred Tulett, "Did Israeli agents hack NZ's police computer?, Dominion Post, July 20, 2011, A1.
[42] Fred Tulett, ibid.
[43] John Hartevelt, "Parents begged to send team," Dominion Post, July 21, 2011, A2.
[44] "Hilik Magnus - Team Leader," Magnus International Search & Rescue.
[45] Magnus International Search & Rescue.
[46] Tracy Watkins, "PM finds himself on shaky ground," Dominion Post, July 21, 2011, A1.
[47] "Key keen to build ties with Israel," National Business Review, November 20, 2008.
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