Morris Abram, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Wednesday lauded the Justice Department decision to quash subpoenas against Israelis alleged to have illegally attempted to export American technology to manufacture cluster bombs.
Tuesday, the Justice Department announced that the subpoenas issued for eight unnamed Israelis working for the Israeli Military Industries’ procurement offices in New York were withdrawn in exchange for the Israeli government’s promise to cooperate in the investigation.
“I have full confidence that the accusations against Israel will prove to be without foundation,” Abram said. “But I am deeply concerned that the campaign of rumor, innuendo, leaks and similar tactics carried out by unnamed sources in the bureaucracy is intended to jeopardize the positive attitude toward Israel that exists at the highest levels of our government and among the American people generally.”
LOOSE CHARGES AND MEDIA MANIPULATION
Abram is not alone in his suspicion, voiced by both Israeli officials and American Jewish leaders in recent weeks, that strategic press leaks on alleged Israeli espionage cases in America are aimed at sabotaging American-Israeli relations.
“…There are some people in Washington who apparently do not accept the policy of this Administration toward Israel and who appear determined to challenge it,” Abram said.
“They do so by leaks, by loose charges, by manipulating the media, as in the recent case when TV camera crews accompanied Customs agents who showed up at a warehouse in upstate New York to investigate the possible ‘illegal’ acquisition by Israel of U.S. military technology.”
Abram said in a press conference last week that those responsible for the leaks are “lower echelon” officials in the Justice Department and Customs bureau. He pointed out that the news of the cluster bomb investigation leak to the press occurred before Israel was notified. The U.S. government formally apologized to Israel for this embarrassing disclosure.
The Israelis would have been called to testify before federal grand juries in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and in Pennsylvania this week.
The U.S. Customs Service initiated the investigation and has reportedly conducted searches at three companies in Iowa and Pennsylvania last month, according to a New York Times report.
In a meeting last week with Stephen Trott, the Justice Department’s chief criminal prosecutor, representatives for the Israelis argued that some of the subpoenaed Israelis should not be called to testify because they are protected by diplomatic immunity.
Israeli diplomats have categorically denied any wrongdoing in the cluster bomb controversy. Israel has developed its own cluster bomb design and manufactures them in its own facilities, according to Israeli sources. They also said that any American technology or equipment related to cluster bombs was exported with the required licenses.
The United States halted the export of American made cluster bombs to Israel after reports in 1982 that Israel used the anti-personnel weapons against civilians in Lebanon.
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