THE PAIN ISRAEL IS FEELING FOR SPYING BEHIND FRIENDLY LINES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302120027-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 21, 2012
• Sequence Number: 27
• Publication Date: December 8, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/09/21: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302120027-8
ARTICLE APPEARED NEW YORK TIMES
ON PAGE 8 December 1985
The Pain Israel Is Feeling
For Spying Behind
Friendly Lines
By THOMAS L FRIEDMAN
JERUSALEM ? When Jonathan Jay Pollard, a
United States Navy intelligence analyst, was arrested on
charges of spying for Israel, the unique relationship be-
tween the two countries was placed for a time under se-
vere strain. Israel has acted ? and wanted to be judged
? like any other nation pursuing its own national inter-
ests. But Israel has also cultivated an intimate relation-
ship with the United States and is thus precluded from
behaving as if Washington were just another capital.
"When you are operating within a family circle, you
are not always careful enough about the rules of proto-
col," said Simcha Dinitz, who was one of Israel's most
successful ambassadors in Washington. "When you go
see a stranger, you put on a coat and tie; with family you
are more informal. I think that kind of attitude may help
explain, but not justify, how such an incident could have
happened. "At the same time," he added, "you have to
keep in mind that Israel is a nation surrounded by ene-
mies, for whom the element of surprise in a war is as im-
portant as any single weapon. We have to put tremendous
emphasis on intelligence, and that sometimes explains
both our enthusiasm and our mistakes."
America's friendship cannot free Israel "from its
sense of aloneness in a hostile world," said David Hart-
man, an Israeli philosopher. "Yet it knows that its very
existence is tied to the intimate commitment of America
to it." The tension between these two outlooks became
palpable when the Federal Bureau of Investigation ar-
rested Mr. Pollard. It accounts for the often awkward
reactions of Israeli leaders in dealing with the spy affair.
The Americarr-Israeli relationship is special in many
fields. Israel receives more economic aid and military
assistance from the United States, $3.75 billion this year,
than any other country. Contrary to general practice, the
money is dispersed early in the year and is all in grants,
not loans. The economic portion goes directly to the state
treasury and is not assigned to specific projects. Israel is
also the only country to have an across-the-board free
trade agreement with the United States. And Israeli Gov-
ernment bond sales get special American tax treatment.
Under terms of a strategic cooperation agreement,
the two countries work together on a broad range of mili-
tary issues, from intelligence to captured Soviet weapon-
ry.' Israel is likely to be one of a handful of countries join-
ing the "Star Wars" research program. It is providing
the site for a Voice of America transmitter that will
broadcast to the Soviet Union. American envoys are fre-
quently called upon to mediate between Israel and its.
Arab neighbors. In the Sinai, American troops help po-
lice the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.
The 75,000 American-Israeli dual citizens in Israel
constitute one of the largest contingents of Americans
living abroad. Americans who serve in the Israeli Army
and other foreign forces may retain dual citizenship un-
less they actively renounce it. (Recently, however, the
State Department revoked the citizenship of Rabbi Meir
Kahane, a native of Brooklyn, whose anti-Arab state-
ments have been an embarrassment to both govern-
ments. His citizenship was revoked after he was seated
in Israel's Parliament and later seemed to make light of
his American ties. He is appealing the ruling.) Every
year, more than 100 American senators and congress-
men and dozens of mayors, governors and candidates
visit Israel, often as invited guests.
The weight of these ties undoubtedly made it easier
for both governments to reach an understanding on deal-
ing with the Pollard affair. After a telephone conversa
tion with Secretary of Stare George P. Shultz, Prime
Minister Shimon Peres issued an apology and agreed to
let senior State Department and Justice Department offi-
cials question the Israeli intelligence officer said to have
run the operation, Rafi Eitan. as well as two Israeli diplo-
mats who were reported to have been involved. Mr.
Shultz said the State Department legal adviser, Abra-
ham D. Sofaer, would lead the American group, which
will go to Israel this week to question the three Israelis.
Nonethless, at least some Israeli officials are draw-
ing other lessons from the incident. The brazen manner
in which a senior Israeli intelligence officer was appar-
ently ready to set up an espionage operation in the United
States, they say, shows that some Israelis have begun to
take America's friendship for granted.
"There is a real naivet?mong some people here," a
senior Israeli official said. "They think that the friend-
ship with the United States is so solid we can do whatever
we want, and if we get caught we will be forgiven. I hope
this incident, and the negative reaction it got all over the
United States, will make some people a little more hum-
ble when it comes to dealing with the Americans."
Another lesson may be that despite the closeness of
the relationship, some Israeli officials still do not fully
understand the feelings of American Jewry. The sugges-
tion that a senior Israeli intelligence official could have
enlisted an American Jew to spy for Israel has left some
American Jewish leaders shocked and embarrassed. If it
happened, such an act would tend to undermine the mes-
sage that American supporters of Israel have been trying
to get across: that Israel is part of the family and that,
because it shares some of the most profound American
values, American Jews can be loyal to both Israel and
the United States, without any problems.
"This affair made American Jews feel uncomfort-
able because it violated that sense of family," said Mr.
Hartman, the philosopher. "You argue in the family, but
you don't spy in the family."
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/09/21: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302120027-8