Shalom, I mean, Kia Ora!

I've been to New Zealand. Lovely country. Exceedingly nice people. More sheep than people, but still. In fact, saying you're from New Zealand would be a great way to travel the world. Nobody would ever suspect a New Zealander had any wrongdoing in mind.

Looks like Israel had the same idea:

New Zealand jails alleged Israeli spies
by Matthew Clark | csmonitor.com

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark launched a "blistering verbal attack" and slapped diplomatic sanctions on Israel Thursday. Ms. Clark announced this after two suspected agents of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency were imprisoned for six months for illegally attempting to obtain New Zealand passports, reports The Scotsman.

---(snip)---

In a July 4 article, the Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported that "intelligence specialists in New Zealand, including one individual who said he had once worked for the Mossad, said in interviews that the members of a group associated with the case had been working systematically for years to obtain New Zealand passports, which are considered 'door-openers' and do not arouse suspicion in the Arab world."

In her comments Thursday, Clark pointed to Mossad's past connection with false passports and assassination attempts. "Israeli agents caught in an unsuccessful assassination attempt in Jordan in 1997 were found to be carrying fraudulent Canadian passports," she said.

By the way, the Mossad is all class:

Urie Zoshe Kelman and Eli Cara were arrested in March after they "tried to collect a passport in the name of a New Zealand national who is a wheelchair-bound cerebral palsy victim," reports The Scotsman.

New Zealand is a very open society, and most of its citizens go on OE (overseas experience) at a young age. Their passports have virtually no visa restrictions anywhere in the world. But the lesson here is, don't get a Kiwi angry. Good for Helen Clark to bring the smackdown.