Israeli sent home after Kiwi spy case

[Violet_Crumble]

The controversial Mossad spy case is again in the spotlight after Australia secretly forced a senior Israeli diplomat to leave.

Speculation is mounting there may be some connection between the diplomat's sudden departure and last year's scandal in which two alleged Mossad agents were arrested in New Zealand.

Last year Uriel Kelman, 31, and Eli Cara, 51, were sentenced to six months prison and ordered to pay $100,000 to the Cerebral Palsy Society for fraudulently trying to obtain a passport.

Though both men denied being spies, Prime Minister Helen Clark and Foreign Minister Phil Goff said there were "very strong grounds" to believe the men were acting for Israel's intelligence services.

Both men have since been deported.

The case is again in the news after the Sydney Morning Herald said the effective expulsion of the Canberra-based diplomat - described as a consul in Israel - was covered up for several weeks.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10009704