U.S. Could Owe Israel an Apology on Arms Allegations, Envoy Says

The United States may eventually have to apologize to Israel for allegations that it sold Patriot anti-missile technology to China without authorization, U.S. Ambassador William Harrop suggested this week.

But meanwhile, the United States had to check to see if the allegations were true, the envoy said Wednesday evening on Israel Television’s weekly Moked news program.

He defended Washington’s dispatch of a team of army experts to Israel to investigate the charges and said he would recommend that its findings be made public.

At the same time, he praised Israel for cooperating and lauded in particular the statesmanship of Defense Minister Moshe Arens, who discussed the matter with U.S. Defense Secretary Dick Cheney in Washington last week. Arens categorically denied the charges but welcomed the U.S. investigation.

Rejecting a Cabinet minister’s complaint that the United States was treating Israel like Iraq, Harrop said the suspicions against Israel were so grave as to leave no alternative but to check thoroughly and quickly for any evidence that it violated the rules governing its use of American technology.

According to Harrop, the probe was necessary “to preserve the deep friendship between the two countries.” Otherwise, too many questions would have been left hanging in the air, he said.

Harrop condemned administration officials who leaked the allegations against Israel to the news media. He agreed that their publication caused serious damage to U.S.-Israeli relations.

And he did not rule out the possibility that the United States would eventually apologize to Israel for the episode.

“If it turns out that intelligence which we had obtained and which was a cause of worry to us proves to be completely groundless, I would think an apology would not be out of line,” the ambassador said.

“The matter is still under review, and we must see how it comes out,” he added. “I have every hope that it will prove to be groundless. But as I say, it is serious, and it must be reviewed.”

Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir warned Wednesday that whoever believed the American investigators would find Israeli violations would regret such thoughts.

The 15-member team, which arrived in Israel on Sunday, was due to leave before the weekend.

The mass-circulation daily Yediot Achronot suggested Thursday that the team’s check on alleged Israeli violations is a smokescreen to hide its real mission, which is to examine the anti-missile system for technical problems.

The newspaper quoted a senior officer as saying that the Americans came here to look for something that had nothing to do with Israel.

It claimed that all Patriot missiles were found in their original packing when they were shipped to Israel and that no use whatever had been made of them.