The Israeli government has asked the Reagan administration to extend diplomatic immunity to 45 members of its military procurement mission in New York, Israeli and U.S. officials confirmed Thursday.
Diplomatic immunity for the procurement staff, first requested in 1986, would allow them to operate “without any interference, as do all other diplomats here,” said Yosef Gal, spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington.
Currently, Israeli diplomats at the embassy in Washington enjoy immunity, but the privilege has not been extended to officials at the procurement mission.
The mission, an arm of the Israeli Defense Ministry, negotiates contracts with U.S. defense firms seeking a share of the $1.8 billion in annual U.S. military aid to Israel.
The mission has been cited in a number of U.S. government probes, including a 1986 case in which eight officials were subpoenaed for allegedly exporting materials for cluster bombs without U.S. permission.
If the 45 staff members were granted “consular immunity,” they would be protected from U.S. prosecutors for activities directly related to their official functions. Immunity would include protection against U.S. prosecution if they were to export U.S. military technology illegally.
Gal predicted Thursday that Israel would “get a satisfactory resolution” of the request shortly. But a State Department source would not give any timetable.
One obstacle has been administration objections to granting immunity to foreign nationals based outside Washington. Gal said there would be “no problem” were the office located in Washington as part of the Israeli Embassy.
The State Department source said that “the Israeli mission is just unique.” Besides having a large office outside Washington, “I do not know of another case where it is separate from an embassy,” the source added.
Another stumbling block, Israeli and U.S. sources said, is the number of officials to be granted immunity. At one point, Israel asked that all 250 employees of the mission be granted immunity, The Washington Post reported Monday.
Gal said that the 45 people mentioned in the request represent the “shlichim” (emissaries), or Israeli defense professionals, while the other 200 or so are support personnel.
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