A team of U.S. Justice Department officials, accompanied by FBI agents arrived in Israel today to question Israeli diplomats and others believed knowledgeable in the case of Jonathan Pollard, the U.S. Navy civilian counterintelligence analyst arrested in Washington November 21 allegedly for spying for Israel.
Abraham Sofaer, the Justice Department’s legal adviser who heads the group, refused to answer reporters’ questions at Ben Gurion Airport. He would not venture a guess as to how long they will be in Israel. Israel Radio said today the questioning would be conducted at a hotel in Tel Aviv. The hotel was not identified.
Tonight, Sofaer and U.S. Ambassador Thomas. Pickering met in Jerusalem with Hannan Bar-On, Deputy Director General of the Foreign Ministry who is heading the Israeli team in the investigation. American sources said that the progress in their investigation depends on the degree of cooperation on the part of the Israelis.
The parameter of the investigation was reportedly defined at a meeting last week in Washington between Secretary of State George Shultz and Minister Without-Portfolio Moshe Arens. Neither official has disclosed the content of their meeting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
