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Source: ONE News -
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A former Australian ambassador to Israel has revealed that he warned the Israeli government not to fake Australian passports for intelligence operations.
Ian Wilcock, who was Australia's ambassador in Israel from 1997 to 1999, has told The Weekend Australian that he met Israeli Foreign Ministry officials in Jerusalem twice during his posting to convey to them strong concerns about the potential abuse of Australian passports by Israeli intelligence.
"The abuse of such a fundamental Australian document is completely unacceptable," Wilcock says.
"We had concerns at the time about the abuse of the passports of a third country, so I met senior officials in the foreign ministry in Jerusalem and we put our concerns very strongly about the potential for this being done to Australian passports."
Wilcock's comments support assertions made this week by former foreign minister Alexander Downer, who said the Howard government had raised the issue with the Israeli government.
The Rudd government has demanded answers from Israel about its suspected role in backing the theft of three Australian citizens' identities by its spy agency, Mossad, to carry out a political assassination.
Britain, France, Ireland and Germany have also called on Israel to explain why the identities of their citizens were stolen as part of the 26-person hit-squad that suffocated Hamas official Mahmud al-Mabhuh in his Dubai hotel room.
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