ISRAELIS CHOOSE SILENCE IN RESPONSE TO SPY PLEA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302120020-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 21, 2012
• Sequence Number: 20
• Publication Date: June 7, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

ARTICLE APf Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/09/21: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302120020-5
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NEW YORK TIMES
7 June 1986
Israelis Choose Silence
In Response to Spy Plea
BY ThOMAS I.. FRIEDMAN
Spdd to The New York Times
JERUSALEM, June 6 - Two days
after an American caught spying for
Israel pleaded guilty in Washington, of-
ficials here are withholding public
comment on the case, apparently in the
hope that the scandal will eventually
blow over.
Neither Prime Minister Shimon
Peres, Foreign Minister Yitzhak
Shamir nor Defense Minister Yitzhak
Rabin have had any formal comment
on the plea, which was entered by Jona.
than Jay Pollard, a former United
States Navy intelligence analyst.
The Israeli leadership has also de-
clined to offer any comment on, or ex.
planation of, the naming of four other
Israelis as unindicted co-conspirators
in the Pollard case. The four include
one of the rising stars of the Israeli Air
Force, Brig. Gen. Aviam Sella, the
commander of the Ramon Air Force
Base in southern Israel.
Confidence In Shaken
Middle-ranking Israeli officials, who
were told by their superiors in Decem-
ber that Israel had fully cooperated
with the United States and had made a
full disclosure to the American investi-
gative team led by the State Depart-
ment's legal adviser, Abraham D. So-
faer, say now that they are no longer
sure they know the full extent of the
Pollard affair.
One possible explanation being dis-
cussed is that senior Israeli officials
did not reveal all that they knew about
the Pollard espionage ring during their
discussions with American investiga-
tors. Another possibility is that Rafael
Eltan, the Israeli official who led the
Pollard espionage operation, continued
to hide some aspects of the affair from
his superiors even after he was dis-
missed and during his interrogation by
American legal authorities.
In any event, with the officials at the
very top refusing to comment, those
below are clearly uncertain as to what
is the truth. This is particularly so re-
garding the question of how one of the
top figures in the Israeli Air Force
could have been involved in what the
Israeli Cabinet has termed a "rogue"
espionage operation.
"At this stage we just hope the whole
thing will blow over and that there will
be no new surprises," a senior Govern-
ment official said.
Until now, Israeli news organizations
have not been insistent that the politi-
cal echelon account to the public for
what happened in the Pollard affair.
From the start of the scandal, there has
been no real sense of outrage among is.
rael's journalists or the society's lead-
ers.
The general mood has been domi-
nated by the assumption that every na-
tion spies on every other nation and
that Israel's error was to get caught. It
was against this backdrop that Mr.
Eltan, far from being punished for his
involvement in the affair, was given
one of the most lucrative Government
jobs, the chairmanship of the board of
Israel Chemicals, a state-owned
trial organization.
Lately, however, some Israeli news
organizations have started to ask ques-
tions with broad implications. The left-
of-center newspaper Davar said today:
"All attempts to obtain an official re-';
sponse or information about the back-
ground of Aviam Sella, who is men-
tioned in Pollard's indictment, were
met with stubborn silence. The ques-
tions on the agenda remain as follows:
Did the Israel Defense Forces or Is-
raeli Air Force senior command know
about Sella's involvement in spying? Is
the absence of knowledge and coordi-
nation a lesson requiring conclusions to
be drawn and implemented?"
Other Recent Scandals
The Israeli public seems to have
been left numb by the revelations in the
Pollard case, which is the latest of a
series of recent scandals that have
raised questions about the accountabil-
ity of the country's leadership.
In the last month, the heads of all of
Israel's major banks have been forced
to resign in connection with a huge
stock market scandal. In addition, the
head of Shin Beth, Israel's domestic in-
telligence service, has been the subject
of reports that he tampered with evi-
dence, altered testimony and influ-
enced witnesses in order to cover up his
purported involvement in the killing of
two captured Palestinian bus hijackers
in April 1984.
On Thursday, one of Israel's most
important contractors, Abraham
Gindi, who was being investigated in
connection with a variety of large-scale
land frauds on the West Bank and vari-
ous building scandals, walked into his
empty swimming pool, poured gasoline'
over his head and immolated himself.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/09/21: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302120020-5