Mossad man in Canberra will not be replaced – report
Israel’s Mossad representative in Canberra, who was expelled in the aftermath of the 2010 Dubai passport scandal, will not be replaced, according to a report in The Weekend Australian.
“Israel has refused to replace its top spy in Australia because of lingering mistrust of the federal government,” Saturday’s report said.
The leaking of the man’s name was believed to be “a further political act of retribution for the controversy that arose after forged Australian passports were used by Mossad agents in an operation to assassinate a senior Hamas official in Dubai,” the report said.
“Sources say there is no prospect that the Mossad position will be filled under the current Labor government because Israel does not want to risk the position being compromised again for political purposes. The decision is understood to have been taken by Mossad itself, rather than the Israeli government.”
Bilateral relations were strained after Mossad was accused of using several forged Australian passports in the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a Hamas leader, in Dubai.
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