Whassup Israel?

[Jim Richards]

Once again, another US citizen caught spying for Israel.

Funny thing though, these activities are alleged to have occured in the 1980s. Seems like a long time to nail the guy.

From the BBC:

US authorities have arrested a military engineer on suspicion of giving secrets involving nuclear weapons, fighter jets and missiles to Israel in the 1980s.

Ben-Ami Kadish was detained for participating in a conspiracy to disclose documents related to national defence, the justice department said.

Mr Kadish worked at the army's Armament Research, Development and Engineering Centre in New Jersey from 1979 to 1985.

He is accused of giving material to an Israeli consular official whilst there.

His alleged handler has been named by justice officials as the former consul for science affairs at the Israeli Consulate General in Manhattan, reportedly the same person who dealt with Jonathan Jay Pollard, who is serving life in prison for spying for Israel.

Pollard passed thousands of documents to Israeli agents whilst working at the US defence department. He was convicted in 1987.

The Israeli government publicly admitted in 1998 that Pollard had been their agent and awarded him Israeli citizenship.

'Major weapons system'

According to the complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, Mr Kadish borrowed several classified documents related to national defence from the army's research centre between 1980 and 1985 and took them to his home in New Jersey.

Mr Kadish would then hand over the documents at his home to the Israeli consular official, who would photograph them in the basement, it added.

One of the documents "contained information concerning nuclear weaponry and was classified as 'Restricted Data'... because the document contained atomic-related information", the complaint said.

Another, classified as "Secret" and "Not Releasable to Foreign Nationals", contained "information concerning a major weapons system - a modified version of an F-15 fighter jet that the United States had sold to another country".

Modified F-15s have been sold to Israel, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and South Korea.

Documents relating to the US Patriot missile air defence, classified as "Secret", were also borrowed by Mr Kadish from the library.

The court documents also allege that Mr Kadish lied to US law enforcement officials on 21 March 2008, the day after he was told to do so by his Israeli handler during a telephone conversation.

Mr Kadish has been accused of conspiring to disclose documents related to the national defence of the US to the government of Israel and of conspiring to act as an agent of the government of Israel.