Mossad has passport factory: ex-agent
Friday Feb 26, 2010
Ex-Mossad officer says Israel regularly manufactures or doctors Australian passports for intelligence operations
A former Mossad officer says he has no doubt Israel's spy agency has forged Australian passports for use regularly in intelligence operations.
"Very few people know very much about Australia," Victor Ostrovsky, a case officer at Mossad for several years in the 1980s, told ABC Radio on Friday.
The agency had obtained blank passports in the past from Canada and the UK.
"If not, they just manufacture them," Mr Ostrovsky said, adding there was a company inside Mossad headquarters which was dedicated to forging passports.
Using an Australian passport was an easy cover to take, he said.
"I know people had been under Australian cover not once (but) quite a few times.
"It doesn't take much of an accent to be an Australian or New Zealander, or an Englishman for that matter."
The federal government has warned Israel it will not be considered "a friend" if it is found to have being involved in passport fraud targeting three Australians.
Three Australian passport-holders, Joshua Bruce, Adam Korman and Nicole McCabe, are believed to have had their identities stolen and used in fake passports held by three suspects in the assassination.
The passports were carried by three other people suspected of being involved in the assassination of senior Hamas operative Mahmud al-Mabhuh in Dubai on January 20.
Mossad, Israel's secret service, is widely believed to be behind the organised hit on al-Mabhuh.
Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard assured Australians their passports are safe.
"We do know that in terms of passports in this country basically they're very safe," Ms Gillard told the Nine Network on Friday.
"It's less than half a per cent that go missing each year and most of them would be lost in pretty benign circumstances.
"You know they're at the back of the sock drawer and no one can find them."
Ms Gillard said any use of Australian identities by the Israeli government for secret police assassinations would not be tolerated.
"If there's any suggestion Australian identities have been used by the Israeli government for this purpose then that is completely unacceptable," she said.
"Democracies have to be accountable for their actions and we'll be making sure that Israel is accountable and this is fully investigated."
Mossad use Aussie passports: ex-officer
Friday Feb 26, 2010
Ex-Mossad officer says Israel regularly manufactures or doctors Australian passports for intelligence operations
A former Mossad officer says he has no doubt Israel's spy agency has forged Australian passports for use regularly in intelligence operations.
"Very few people know very much about Australia," Victor Ostrovsky, a case officer at Mossad for several years in the 1980s, told ABC Radio on Friday.
The agency had obtained blank passports in the past from Canada and the UK.
"If not, they just manufacture them," Mr Ostrovsky said, adding there was a company inside Mossad headquarters which was dedicated to forging passports.
Using an Australian passport was an easy cover to take, he said.
"I know people had been under Australian cover not once (but) quite a few times.
"It doesn't take much of an accent to be an Australian or New Zealander, or an Englishman for that matter."
The federal government has warned Israel it will not be considered "a friend" if it is found to have being involved in passport fraud targeting three Australians.
Three Australian passport-holders, Joshua Bruce, Adam Korman and Nicole McCabe, are believed to have had their identities stolen and used in fake passports held by three suspects in the assassination.
The passports were carried by three other people suspected of being involved in the assassination of senior Hamas operative Mahmud al-Mabhuh in Dubai on January 20.
Mossad, Israel's secret service, is widely believed to be behind the organised hit on al-Mabhuh.
Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard assured Australians their passports are safe.
"We do know that in terms of passports in this country basically they're very safe," Ms Gillard told the Nine Network on Friday.
"It's less than half a per cent that go missing each year and most of them would be lost in pretty benign circumstances.
"You know they're at the back of the sock drawer and no one can find them."
Ms Gillard said any use of Australian identities by the Israeli government for secret police assassinations would not be tolerated.
"If there's any suggestion Australian identities have been used by the Israeli government for this purpose then that is completely unacceptable," she said.
"Democracies have to be accountable for their actions and we'll be making sure that Israel is accountable and this is fully investigated."
Mossad use Aussie passports: ex-officer