IRAEL IRKED BY US SCRUTINY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000201380003-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 17, 2012
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: December 16, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/17: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201380003-8
ART`c'4,EAP EAREo CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
ON pAGF Q - 16 December 1985
Israel irked by US scrutiny
Distress is over US Customs raid, spy investigation
By Mary Curtin
s eciial to The Christian Science Monitor
Jerusskm
Recent incidents have underscored for the
Israelis - again - the double-edged nature
of their complex and close relationship with
the United States.
The timing and publicity given to US
Customs Service raids last Thursday on an
American firm suspected of illegally trans-
ferring military equipment and technology to
Israel has caused anger and bitterness
among officials here. Israel yesterday ex-
pressed official "astonishment" that it had
been implicated in these raids.
The raids occurred the day after US in-
vestigators began questioning Israeli offi-
cials on their involvement in the Jonathan
Jay Pollard spy affair and also one day after
Israel formally submitted its request to the
US for $3.5 billion in military and economic
aid for fiscal 1987.
"It's the mood of a lot of people around
here that right now there is a campaign by
certain elements in the US administration
against us," said one Israeli official, who
spoke on condition he not be named.
In a Cabinet statement Sunday, the gov-
ernment said it had asked the Reagan ad-
ministration for an explanation for the Cus-
toms raids on the Connecticut, New Jersey,
and Pennsylvania locations of Napco Inc.
This company has contracted to supply Is-
rael with the technology to make a new bar-
rel for a tank cannon.
beriefitted both nations over thl years.
` of major con utions the United States has
made to us recently is on the Lavie fighter plane," the
source said. "But both sides are exchanging a lot of infor-
mation in many areas."
But an Israeli official said L. "added added nothing to the
dignity and integrity of Israel a: a state" last week to
publicly submit its request for 81.2 billion in economic
aid and $2.3 billion in military grants to the US.
"On the one hand, we're very unhappy about the
[Napco] case and the [Pollard] investigation and on the
other hand we're saying, `Look, we don't have much
choice because they're supporting us with $3.5 billion a
year,' " the official said.
BdinologY and m nce exchanges a he said have
One expert who formerly purchased weapons technol-
Last week, the Israelis were clearly on the defensive
about the Pollard case, after Prime Minister Shimon
Peres had issued a qualified apology to the US Dec. 1
and the team of American investigators arrived here
Wedrtesday,
But sraelis now are signaling that they believe the
Customs raids went too far.
"It's very serious that the campaign is continuing.
Now on every coiner in the US people will be saying that
Israel is spying an the US," said the official.
This view however, is not unanimous in this deeply
divided coalition government. Sources close to Prime-
Minister Peres said they do not believe that there is any
orchestration "at the level of senior officials" in the US
to discredit Israel.
"In fact, an effort to contain the problem is being
made an the part of the i ughest levels," said one source,
who dismissed the Customs raids as the result of "some
overzealous official in Customs ... who blew it."
Defenze Minister Yitzhak Rabin reportedly told US
Ambassador Thomas Pickering on Friday that Israel
had "acted legally and openly" in its dealings with
Napco, and that "the implication of Israel in the affair is
cause for astonishment."
"The minister said that an agreement was signed be-
tween the Israeli Military Industries and the American
firm in December 1984," said Cabinet spokesman Yossi
Beilin. He also said that the US office of Defense ap-
proved the acquisition by Israel of a US-designed chro-
mium-plating process.
Israeli Ambassador Meir Rosenne met with US Un-
dersecretary of State Michael Armacost Friday, and Is-
raeli Defense Ministry officials talked to Pentagon offi-
cials. The Israelis reportedly stressed that American
firms contracting to sell sensitive technology are obliged _
to obtain permission from the State Department.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/17: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201380003-8