Senior Israeli Officials Strongly Deny Reports of `Mole' in U.S. Government
By Barton Gellman Washington Post Foreign Servic.
Thursday, May 8 1997; Page A20 The Washington Post.
JERUSALEM, May 7 -- The Israeli government responded with emphatic
denials today to a report that an FBI probe is underway into alleged Israeli
attempts to obtain sensitive U.S. government information, accusing those
behind the disclosure of trying to tarnish the Jewish state and exert pressure
for political change.
Foreign Minister David Levy, the most senior Israeli official to comment
on the report, published in Wednesday's Washington Post, appeared to go
so far as to say that Israel does not engage in espionage anywhere.
"Our diplomats all over the world, and of course specifically in the
United States, don't deal with such a thing," Levy said. "They
have clear instructions. Israel, in general, does not deal with such a thing.".
Citing U.S. government sources, The Post reported that the National Security
Agency intercepted a communication in January between a senior Israeli intelligence
officer in Washington and a superior in Tel Aviv. The conversation referred
to a person code-named "Mega" in a way that officials said suggested
that Mega may be someone in the U.S. government who had provided information
to Israel in the past.
One source who read the NSA transcript said the intelligence officer told
his superior that Israeli Ambassador Eliahu Ben Elissar had asked him "to
go to Mega to get a copy" of a confidential letter from then-Secretary
of State Warren Christopher to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. The superior
in Tel Aviv rejected the request, replying, "This is not something
we use Mega for." There was no clear answer from Israel on whether
it acknowledges that such a conversation took place.
Ben Elissar, speaking on Israel Television, described the report with a
Hebrew expression that translates literally as "sucked from the finger,"
or invented in its entirety. David Bar Illan, director of communications
for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, said the conversation may have been
"a totally innocent slip or something not meant to be what it could
have been interpreted as being.".
"In conversations we always refer to people by all sorts of nicknames
like this, purely innocently, sometimes because we don't want even people
in the room to know who we're talking about or talking to," he said.
He cited as an example an Israeli practice of referring to President Harry
S. Truman, in his day, as "Ish Emmet," Hebrew for "true man."
He said he had no idea if anyone in Israel refers to a current U.S. official
as Mega.
Several commentators and officials here noted that the newspaper story stated
openly that the United States eavesdrops on private Israeli communications.
"The fact that this is said so matter of factly is, let's say, a little
disturbing," Bar Illan said. "I don't think anybody gets mad about
its happening; it's the publication.".
Ben Elissar suggested in his television interview that there might be a
link between the published report and the Clinton administration's disapproval
of Israeli policies in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Asked if he saw a "political motive" in the timing of the report
with today's arrival in the region of U.S. special envoy Dennis Ross, Ben
Elissar replied: "That is exactly what worries me; this is the truth.
Since I know there is no truth to this story itself, then why now, and why
in such a sensational and bombastic manner? Apparently there is somebody
who not only wants to besmirch the name of Israel, but also perhaps to cause
damage to the relations between Israel and America. And perhaps there is
also someone here who is trying to pressure the state of Israel in this
evil manner.".
Dore Gold, Netanyahu's American-born foreign policy adviser, sought to play
down such explanations. "I believe we have very good relations with
this administration, and we have no indication that this story, or the leak
of this story, indicates otherwise," he said.
One puzzle unresolved thus far is why Ben Elissar would risk damage to Israeli
relations with Washington over a letter on which Netanyahu already had been
briefed. A senior U.S. official here confirmed that Ross had read Netanyahu
the "letter of assurances" addressed to Arafat, although he did
not give him a copy to keep. The U.S. official said it was possible, given
Ben Elissar's estrangement from Netanyahu, that the ambassador did not know
that.
Gerald Steinberg, a foreign policy strategist at Bar Ilan University, said
the FBI probe report "may make the low point even lower" between
Netanyahu's government and the Clinton administration. "When American-Israeli
relations already seem tense over a whole series of other issues, this is
a killer issue," he said.
At the same time, he added, "both governments have an interest in dodging
this because it opens up a Pandora's box for both of them. It may be easier
for the leaders of both countries to say that since there's so much involved
in this, [including] the exposure of American intelligence capabilities,
there's a mutual interest in letting it die quickly.".
But Bar Illan asserted that since the 1986 conviction of U.S. Navy analyst
Jonathan Jay Pollard on charges that he sold classified data to Israel,
a series of subsequent allegations sought to "recycle" the damaging
effects of that case. He cited reports of allegations that Israel had sold
U.S. military technology to China and of an FBI investigation in February
into the actions of Army tank engineer David A. Tenenbaum to determine if
he had passed unauthorized military information to Israel. All the leaks,
Bar Illan said, proved to be "nonsense.".
U.S. officials traveling with President Clinton in Mexico continued to decline
comment on The Post's report.
© Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company
