Cabinet-sponsored Probe into Pollard Spy Case Continues to Mark Time

A Cabinet-sponsored probe into the Jonathan Pollard spy case, stalled before it got started because the first witnesses refused to testify, continued to mark time Sunday while their lawyer dickered with Attorney General Yosef Harish for immunity from prosecution.

David Libai, legal counsel for three former Israeli diplomatic attaches in the U.S., is seeking a written commitment from Harish that no information emerging from the investigation will be transferred to the American authorities. Libai advised his clients last week not to testify lest they incriminate themselves and face espionage charges in the U.S.

The three are Yosef Yagur, former scientific attache at the Israel Consulate General in New York; Ilan Ravid, former aide to the scientific attache at the Israel Embassy in Washington; and Irit Erb, former secretary at the scientific attache’s office in Washington. All allegedly had dealings with Pollard, who has been sentenced to life imprisonment for spying for Israel. They left the U.S. immediately after his arrest in 1985.

Foreign Minister Shimon Peres disclosed at Sunday’s Cabinet meeting that the State is paying legal expenses for the three former government employes. Other Ministers despaired that the two man inquiry committee could proceed unless the three agreed to testify. If not, there would be no alternative but to establish a full-scale judicial commission to carry on the investigation with power to subpoena witnesses under oath.

It was precisely to avoid a broader inquiry that the Inner Cabinet appointed the two-man body consisting of Tel Aviv lawyer Yehoshua Rotenstreich and former Chief of Staff Gen. Zvi Tsur.

Tsur may soon leave on a 10-day business trip which would further delay the committee’s work. Premier Yitzhak Shamir was optimistic that the problem of testimony could be solved through “dialogue.” He stressed that the government did not intend to pass any testimony on to “exterior bodies.”