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Swastikas
and Nazi slogans have been gouged around Jewish graves in New
Zealand, a day after it imposed diplomatic sanctions on Israel over
two suspected Israeli spies who tried to obtain a passport by
fraud.
Some 16 graves were attacked in the Jewish part of a cemetery in
Wellington that dates to the 1880s, a city council spokesman
said.
"Someone's used some sort of stick or tool to gouge swastikas into
the grass around the graves. Words like 'Sieg Heil' have been
scratched into the footpath," he said. Sieg Heil was a common Nazi
salutation.
The head
of the New Zealand Jewish Council said the desecration of the
graves was linked to the passport case and the resulting sanctions
against Israel.
"I think there is a direct connection between the very strong
expressions against Israel and people here feeling they can take it
out on Jews," David Zwartz said.
"It seems to me Israel-bashing one day, Jew-bashing the next
day."
New Zealand has frozen all high-level contact between the two
countries and said the two men, jailed for six months, were linked
to Israel's intelligence service -
Mossad.
New Zealand has small Jewish communities, but has no history of
anti-Semitic behaviour, with only occasional acts of vandalism of
Jewish buildings.
Prime Minister Helen Clark said Israel's offer of an informal
apology for the passport affair was not enough.
Israel's Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said on Thursday Israel was
sorry about the incident, and would seek to restore
relations.
"The ball is in Israel's court as to where it wants to move from
here," Clark said. "Three months ago we asked for an apology and an
explanation. That has not been forthcoming."
But some in Jerusalem appeared to indicate that New Zealand was making a mountain out of molehill.
Former Israeli Foreign Ministry director-general Reuven Merhav told the Jerusalem Post that there was no attempt by Israel to cause any direct damage to New Zealand's interests.
"We don't have the luxury of countries like New Zealand, which exist within oceans of calm. I wish the problems that bother the New Zealand government were all the problems that we had to contend with," Merhav said. "We are fighting for our lives, and sometimes you have to take certain actions."
The Post quoted the the official as saying that Israel should not be expected to apologize for every crime an Israeli citizen commits of foreign soil.
