Prominent Jewish community leader Mark Leibler has accused former prime minister Kevin Rudd of making false claims and peddling “far-fetched conspiracy theories” about the pro-Israel lobby in his new book.
In the memoir, Mr Rudd details how agents for Israeli intelligence agency Mossad forged Australian passports for their operations and claims Mr Leibler “went off” at the government’s decision to punish the Israeli government for a 2010 incident by expelling a diplomat believed to be an intelligence officer.
Mr Rudd said Mr Leibler berated him for the “hostile act” during a dinner at the Lodge in Canberra and did not believe Mr Rudd when he told him it was not the first time the Israelis had forged Australian passports. The former prime minister claims an angry Mr Leibler excused the Mossad conduct as typical of the intelligence world and made a veiled threat about helping Julia Gillard take the Labor leadership.
In a statement, Mr Leibler said the meeting took place but emphatically rejected Mr Rudd’s claims, calling the account “completely false, virtually from top to bottom”.
4 uncomfortable truths for Liebler. 1) Mossad forged Australian passports for use in an assassination in Dubai. 2) They had done the same before. 3) On advice, & to protect Oz passports, I expelled Mossad from Canberra. 4) Liebler attacked me for doing so. https://t.co/N1MsUehnmV
— Kevin Rudd (@MrKRudd) October 19, 2018
Read the article by Fergus Hunter & Latika Bourke in The Sydney Morning Herald.