NZ prime minister in effort to improve relations with Jews, Israel

New Zealand's prime minister Helen Clark will visit two Jewish monuments on her coming trip to Poland and Germany. Clark, who arrived in Bangkok en route to Europe yesterday, left New Zealand a week after suspending a former minister for saying that he was "sick and tired" of hearing how many Jews were gassed in the Holocaust. She sent backbench MP John Tamihere, 45, on "stress leave" after his comment in a magazine interview, asking "How many times do I have to be told and made to feel guilty?" The comment drew fire from Jewish groups. Moreover, New Zealand and Israeli officials are locked in sensitive negotiations on restoring full diplomatic relations between Tel Aviv and Wellington, after New Zealand's government had suspended them following an incident in which two alleged Mossad agents stole the identity of a quadriplegic man to obtain a passport. The men were later condemned to six months in prison.