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Two Israelis charged in relation to passport fraud in New Zealand have pleaded guilty.
Urie Kelman, 31, and Eli Cara, 40, admitted a charge of participating in an organised criminal group to obtain a New Zealand passport.
Both men are believed to have links with the Israeli Secret Service - Mossad .
When the two men were arrested in April, the Acting Foreign Affairs Minister called in the Israeli government representative in Canberra for a please explain.
Prime Minister Helen Clark said a strong and public response would be made once the case was over.
But Clark's office said there will be no official comment until after sentencing.
The guilty plea shocked the court as the media gathered for what was expected to be a simple court appearance.
Suspicions about Cara were originally triggered by a passport officer who thought his accent did not match with the Anglo-Saxon name on the application.
It turned out, the name was that of a wheelchair bound New Zealander suffering from cerebral palsy.
Police say the case highlights the measures already in place to protect the integrity of the New Zealand passport.
Authorities hope the case serves as a warning to others contemplating the use of a false New Zealand passport.
The charges carry a maximum penalty of up to seven years behind bars. The Israelis will be sentenced in a fortnight.
There have
been previous diplomatic incidents between Israel and other
countries involving false passports.
Israeli intelligence and counter-terrorism agency Mossad prompted a
diplomatic row with Canada over its use of fake Canadian passports
in operations in the 1990s.
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