Nobody said that Western states aren’t inherently hypocritical but this supposed revelation opens a can of worms. Australia has used faked passports to carry out assassinations? Do tell (and even if they do, that means that we should simply accept it and allow, say Israel, to get away with murder?)
And I note the increasingly common use in our media of the terms “Jewish lobby”, a positive development. More Australians are recognising that there are prominent Jewish spokespeople whose sole job is to defend every Israeli action. This is what Zionism has done to my people:
Deputy opposition leader Julie Bishop says Australia’s security agencies engage in passport forgery – the very practice that prompted the Rudd Government to expel an Israeli diplomat.
Ms Bishop became embroiled in the fake passports scandal after calling yesterday’s expulsion “an over-reaction”.
She told Fairfax Media: “It would be naive to think that Israel is the only country in the world that has used forged passports, including Australian passports, for security operations.”
When asked directly if Australian intelligence agencies forge passports, Ms Bishop – a former cabinet minister in the Howard government – replied “yes”.
The fake passports controversy erupted after the January murder of top Hamas arms dealer Mahmoud Al-Mabouh in a Dubai hotel room.
Four of the suspects in the assassination travelled on Australian passports in the names of four dual Australian-Israeli citizens.
Yesterday, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith ordered a diplomat at the Israeli embassy to leave after concluding that Israel was responsible for the forgeries.
Mr Smith said the decision to blame Israel and expel the diplomat was “based on a considered judgement shared by Australian security agencies.”
In Parliament, Mr Smith revealed that ASIO and the Australian Federal Police briefed the deputy opposition leader on the issue prior to yesterday’s announcement.
“The deputy leader of the opposition has shown she is not fit to occupy a position of trust in the national security environment,” Mr Smith told Parliament.
Ms Bishop said “there is no actual proof that the Israeli government forged the Australian passports.”
She denies the opposition has chosen to attack the diplomat’s expulsion in an effort to stir support for the Jewish lobby in Australia.