ISRAEL PONDERS RESUMING TIES WITH THE SOVIETS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000100150039-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 29, 2012
• Sequence Number: 39
• Publication Date: October 6, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STnT
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/29 :CIA-RDP90-009658000100150039-6
i
o `~c sober 198?_
Israel ~'o~ders
es~~rning Vies
ji~h t~~e Soviets
Menachem Begin has displayed
certain peculiarities that tend to
raise the hair on the back of Pres-
ident Reagan's neck.
Sources close to the president say
he harbors a deep uncertainty about
Begir.'s judgment and a fear of his
adventurism.
The replacement of Begin as
prime minister of Israel, Reagan
feels, would remove an incendiary
from the midst of the powderkegs. A
more moderate Israeli government
might enable the bitter adversaries
in the A4iddle East to muddle
through without Armageddon.
But the president would like to
effertuate a change in Israel's lead-
ership without jarring Begin's sen-
sibilities.
The Notional Security Council
'has been secretly discussing the
prospects of Begin's removal. But
Reagan carefully reassured the em-
battled Israeli leader last week that
~'~'ashington has no intention of
meddling in Israel's internal politics.
For Reagan is worried how Begin
might react.
For one thing, the Soviets are
casting flirtatious glances in $egin's
direction. A possible Soviet-Israeli
rapprochement has been discussed
at the highest levels in Moscow and
Jerusalem. ~idence of this is cited
in CIA and State Department doc-
uments shown to my associate Dale
Van Atta.
These documents are classed so
far above top-secret that even the
code names used to classify them are
top-secret. This usually indicates a
need to protect U.S. spies who have
penetrated to the innermost circles
of foreign governments
The documents indicate that Is-
rael has been playing coy since about
1970, when the Soviets first began
making overtures.
The subject of renewed diplomatic
relations has been brought up inter-
mittently at secret meetings ever
since.
While Israel has remained "deeply
suspicious of Soviet policy toward
i,.he Middy East," an ultra-secret
document reports, "Israeli leaders
have made it clear they would be
receptive to a Soviet overture to re-
sume official ties ....Indeed, Tel
Aviv probes regularly for signs that
Moscow may be considering signif-
icant shifts in policy toward Israel."
Another CIA report, which also
has an exotic classification stamp,
states that the "number of Soviet
officials in Moscow [who] favor re-
lations with Israel [has been] grow-
ing." The argument of these Soviet
officials is that "t e a sence of So-
viet-Israeli diplomatic ties favors
Washington's Middle East policy,"
the CIA explains.
There's also a domestic reason:
"Moscow believes an Israeli embassy
in Moscow would weaken protests by
Soviet Jewish dissidents, since the
Kremlin views such protests largely
as the result of unhappiness with So-
viet policy toward Israel."
A key Soviet diplomat once told
U.S. officials in confidence that he
had been assigned to Israel, a CIA
report notes, adding. "From time to
time, other Soviet officials have said
that the USSR has earmarked per-
sonnel for service in Tel Aviv."
The Kremlin is populated with
cold pragmatists who are feeling
some discomfiture over the pitiful
performance of their Syrian client
against the Israelis in Lebanon. The
Syrians blame the poor showing on
their Soviet-made weapons; the Rus-
sians contend that the Syrian sol-
diers and pilots were at fa~~lt. This
controversy has stirred anew Soviet
interest in renewing its Contacts with
Israel.
For their part, some Israeli leaders
welcome the idea of restoring ties
with Moscow. They see it as a
chance to show their independence
of the United States and eventually
to play off one superpower against
the other to Israel's advantage. Chief
among these Israeli leaders is For-
eign Minister Yitzhak Shamir.
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/29 :CIA-RDP90-009658000100150039-6