Full Release - IRmep

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Pentagon Spy Flap Isn't Open-And-Shut Case .
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http://www.dia.iO/adminlEARLYBlRDlO4OilJ0Is2904083031S922.html
.For.Israel,.part ofthe. problem w~~n confronted.wit~:a
spy scandal like this is that in the past, its,
protestations ofinnocence sometimes proved Jess:than. creaible:
In recent years, under the watches ofseveral prime ministers, Israel has antagonized a string offriendly
nations, inclpding Switzerland, Cyprus, Jordan an4.Canada, either by using their soil as a staging ground
for spy activity or by having' ~ossad age~ts pass themselves offas these ~ountries' riationals. .. '
Israel ~uffered
one ofits.·worst cases of"blowback"-. espio~ageparlance for unanticipated and highly
unwelcome consequences - when Mossad agents tri~d, ineptly, t~ assassinate Hamas le~der Khaled'
Meshaal in Jordan in 1997 by injecting him in th~. ear with poison.
To retrieve its disgraced agents, Israel wasJorced to free Hamas leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin, who
returned to the Gaza Strip in triumph and was a driving force behi~d the campaign ofPalestinian suicide
bo~bings until he was ass~sinated by Israel in March.
.Authorities in New Zealand were infuriated last spring when two Isra~lis
were caught trying to
fraudulently procure a New Zealand p~spoi1.
Prosecutors s~id a disabled New Zealand man waS
unwittingly used as the phony passport ~pplicant. .
Israel ha~,
not acknowledged that its nationals were spies, but New ~aland says there is little room for
doubt.
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Bungles suc~ as these have done much to dent the.Mossad's image a~ a skilled and subtle practi~ioner
the art ofespionage, and high~profile
errors nave pro~pted ,calls in Is~el to rein in the spymasterS:
of
In the aftermath ofthe Pollar~ case, Israel made ~trenuous pledge~ to refrain from spying on the United
States. Senior diplomatic sources apd analysts interviewed Satw:day expressed doubt that Israel WQuld
have'dsked involving ~tself in such an operation at thi~ j\Ulcture.
"Isr,ael is not spying on American soil, full stop,in the sense that it's not trying to locate potential agerits,
it's n9t approaching them, it's not iecmiti.ng $em, it's not running the~, and it's not paying mo~ey for
information," said Yossi ~elman, an author Who special~zes in ~srael's intelligence community.
"And it very much depend~
on the extent and detail ofthe information involved," Melman added. ~IIf
someone at the Pentagon actually passed a confidential document directly to Israel, it would-be very, very·
se~ous, but ifsomeone si~ply tell~ a third partY, 'Well, it seems the American thinking on this subject is
such ~d such: then it's·all much more murky."
In Washington, the reports ofthe FaI inv.estigation al$o raised. questions aliout why Israel might be
willing to risk a major-spy scandal involving its closest ally. After all, Sharon's government can open
doors even at the highest ~eve!s oJ~e Bush acJ1lJinistra~iQn, Washington-based diplomats and Middle
East experts noted.
"It would be kind ofreckless for Israel to dO.this c