asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 18 March regarding British passports forged by agents of the Israeli Government, if he will state (a) on how many occasions this has occurred, (b) what action was taken when this was discovered, (c) what has happened to the forged passports and (d) what assurances he has that no acts of terrorism have been committed by holders of these passports.

We know of previous occasions in 1973 and 1979 when Israelis were found to be using forged British passports. The Israeli Government did not then provide satisfactory assurances that such abuse would not recur. On this occasion, the assurances which we have received do not relate to the previous use of the forged passports, which have been retained by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.