Israel under fire from New Zealand

NEW ZEALAND’S prime minister launched a blistering verbal attack and slapped diplomatic sanctions on Israel yesterday after two suspected Mossad agents were jailed for six months for illegally trying to obtain a New Zealand passport.

“New Zealand condemns without reservation these actions by agencies of the Israel government,” Prime Minister Helen Clark said in Wellington after the pair were sentenced to prison terms.

“The New Zealand government views the act carried out by the Israeli intelligence agents as not only utterly unacceptable but also a breach of New Zealand sovereignty and international law,” she said.