US arrests American army engineer on charge of spying for Israel in the 1980s
April 22, 2008, 7:37 PM (GMT+02:00)
DEBKAfile’s Washington sources report the charge is serious enough to affect President George W. Bush’s plan to attend Israel’s 60th anniversary celebrations next month. Connecticut-born Ben-Ami Kadish, now 84, is accused of giving an Israeli consulate employee classified documents about nuclear weapons, an F-15 fighter jet and the US Patriot system in the 1980s.
The US justice department describes Kadish's Israeli handler as the same man who handled convicted spy Jonathan Pollard. This handler, identified only as “co-conspirator 1” left the US after Pollard’s exposure but stayed in touch with him until March of this year. Israeli cabinet minister Raffi Eytan, known as Pollard’s handler, said he had no idea of what this was about.
One of the four counts against Kadish is of participating in a conspiracy to disclose documents related to national defense in the years 1979-1985
The criminal complaint says Kadish took home classified documents from the US Army’s Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center in Dover New Jersey, where he was employed. The Israeli government employee then photographed them in Kadish’s basement, says the charge.
DEBKAfile’s sources note that the suspect must have retired at least 18 years ago and is no longer active in secret defense projects. They ask therefore what was the point of his Israeli handler staying in touch with him up until now?
