New Zealand official: Israeli ambassador's request for Maori aide illegal

Every country in the world , loves to have its intelligence agents, carry New Zealand passports. New Zealand is far away from everyplace, neutral, Kiwis can travel everywhere, New Zealand has distanced itself from US foreign policy and the US military, it is the perfect cover for any person of any nationality, be they intelligence agents, or representatives of corporations with not so nice agendas. For example, if I was a Japanese national, working for a big logging firm that was clear-cutting in the Phillipines, or doing really dirty open pit mining in Burma, I would want to have dual citizenship with New Zealand, or even dispose of my Japanese passport and have myself known as New Zealand citizen, because New Zealanders are not known for raping the environment, unless of course they are mine managers for big polluting companies....You will find various mercenaries and former South Africans, and former SAS soldiers, who now hold New Zealand citizenship to work as contractors in Iraq.

Jews are the indigenous population of Israel...Arabs are only guests

Whatever, this "exemplimary" diplomat, Yuval Rotem, could have acted more diplomatically, and interviewed umpteen candidates, until he found the most suitable. If this guy/gal also happened to be a Maori, that would be even better, without offending anyone...

shanin, perhaps you forgot about iran's hand in murdering innocent Argentinian Jews at a community center. Your former president is wanted by Argentina. Or, the murder of dozens of Iranian dissidents and exiles in Europe and worldwide. How about support of hizbullah and murder of American and French peace keepers sent by UN in Lebanon (your country helped to carry that out). Lastly, did you forget about kidnapping and murder of civilians in Lebanon, also done under your country's supervision. You are an example of a real hypocrite

Nice response you wrote. Unfortunately it's wasted on responding to Natallie. She is not the secular humanist which she tries to market herself as, instead she vexatiously despises Jews and will twist and turn everything she can into an attack on Israel and or on Jews.

This wasn't just a private Israeli trying to falsely obtain a NZ passport. This was an Israeli government agent attempting to obtain a passport for use by Mossad to facilitate entry into a country hostile to Israel for the purpose of espionage (or perhaps murder as was the case with Canadian passports). So when the Iranian government attempts this then we will have a problem with that. But they haven't so far.

They are completely out of touch with reality. I'd like to say they are represent the worst of Israeli society but they don't, they just reflect the mainstream.

Clearly the ambassador is attempting to compare the race relations problems in New Zealand with those in Israel in an attempt to silence any criticism. While the situation is not perfect in NZ, the government is actively engaged in trying to solve the remaining problems constructively (i.e. through dialogue and does not make use of the air force or the army). Personally, if it were up to me we would not bother with an Israeli ambassador - nothing positive comes from the relationship.

In a recent article in the Australian Jewish News, Rotem announced that he would like to hire a Gentile on his staff within the embassy. Not only so that the Gentile may learn more of Israel and Judaism but so that the Jewish staff could learn more about Non-Jewish Australia. The main discrimination would come when a Jew applied for this position and was turned down because he or she was a Jew. The same applies for the Maori.

He should have asked for someone with intensive local knowledge and hired the person most to his taste. That's what anybody else would have done.

Leveling tendentious and mendacious insinuations on a habitual basis towards one ethnic group (the Jews) and their country (Israel) while treating others in a neutral fashion is a sure sign of racism. If Jesse Jackson was looking to hire a Jewish assistant for his Washington office to "remind me that New York City is part of my agenda" no one would think much of it. What he actually did was call New York "Hymietown", which *is* racist. The equivalent of this epithet would be a statement by Jesse Jackson (who is from Chicago) that LA is "wetback city". An offensive racist epithet if there ever was one, and for which he would be pilloried. (To fans of Jackson out there - I'm aware and agree that he has put his negative attitudes toward Jews behind him, and has personally supported Jews in Israel and elsewhere, as well as other ethnic groups).

... are the Jews. In Israel, the Arabs are squatters on another people's land. (I mean that as a nation. As individuals, certainly they either own their own land or lease it legally. They are squatters in the sense that Israel is not the Arabs' own homeland.)

Israel should be concerned about the rights of the Arab population in Israel...

It is truly ironic that Israelis talk about protecting the rights of indigenous peoples in New Zealand while simultaneously liquidating the indigenous people of their own land, the Palestinians.

mess with Australia's and NZ's native problem but they can mess with our Arab problem. Really enlightening Democracies!

as usual, shoot first from the hip and then think-israel forever handles its relationship with NZ as though NZ is not as clever as the not so clever israelis that are sent there as ambassadors

SLIBOVIZ # 3 YOU ARE CERTAINLY RIGHT. WHERE IS nz WHO JOINED TO DEFEA THE NAZIS AND THE JAPANESE. NOW WE HAVE A BREED OF 'PUE KIWIS' WHO TRIES TO TELL THE WHOLE WORLD HOW IT SHOULD BE RUN. IF AN IRANIAN WOULD ATTEMPT TO AQUIRE A NZ PASSPORT WOULD THEY MAKE SUCH A NOISE -NO! AND YOU KNOW WHY? BECAUSE IRAN BUY LOTS OF LAMBFROM NZ, THAT IS WHY!!

"I,m here to pledge partnership and i'm here to commit to write a new chapter"Yuval Rotem Dominion Post. In a number of countries where the NZ government has Embassys it is not uncommon to appoint locals to certain positions in the running of that Embassy,it helps to make things run smoothly without making an embarrassing error on cultural affairs. I can't see where Joris de Bres (his name sounds foreign,how did he get his job) is coming from,it would be a great coup for any Maori interested in the position.

What the hell has that to do with hiring Maori Boy who appears here regularly to condemn Israel? It's about time he got a real job working for decent people and earning a living!! Who knows perhaps old Idrajaya could get offered a job on one of those decrepit little 3rd world Islands making up Indonesia. Or better still in Burma much closer to home where he could get involved in protesting the abuse and the killing of those Buddhist Monks by his fellow uncuvilised Muslims

Doubt it. There is more to this story. Why is New Zealand so opposed to the Israeli embassy hiring a Maori? What are they afraid of? Maybe the Israelis will learn first hand from this Maori that New Zealand is not this racism free paradise that is the imatge the Kiwis try to present to the world. Maybe PM Helen Clark will learn that people in glass houses should not be so eager to throw stones at Israel. I am eager to see what develpes in this story.

It's like Jesse Jackson walking into a NYC employment agency and saying, "I want to hire a Jew for my staff. To remind me that I am in New York City".

"Israeli secret service agents were caught trying to fraudulently obtain New Zealand passports." That incident was a misdemeanor of Israeli secret service, They operate thousands of murders and terrors all around the world, especially in middle east.