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Sharansky': Pentagon-CIA Rivalry Led To Spy Charge
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http://wWw.dia.ic.gov/ad!DihlEARLYBIRD/040830/s200408303is913.html
UNCLASSIFIED .. FOUO
Jerusalem Post
August 30, 2004
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FBI INFORMATION COlrfAINED
HEREIN IS UNCLASSIFIED
DATE
07-29-2010 BY' 60324 uc baw/sab/1sg
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Sharansky: Pentagon-CIA Rivalry ,Led To Spy Charge
By Associated Press
Allegations of I~raeli'spying in the United States are false and may be th~ result ofintemal conflicts
between.th~ Pentagon and ~he CIA, Diaspora.Affairs minister Natan Sharansky said Sunday, but analysts.
admitted that even so, damage has been done to cmcial'ties between the two countries.
American officials said S.aturday that the'FBI has spent more than a year investigating whether a
Pentagon analys~ funneled highly classified material to Israel..
The material described White House policy tow~d Iran. 'srael says I~n .. and its nuclear ambitions ­
pose the greatest single threat to.the Jewis~ state.
Sharansky, the frrst Israeli Cabinet minister to spe8k in public about the matter, told Canadian
Broadcasting Corp. television that Israel enforces a ban on spying in the United States.
"I hope it's all a mistak~ or misun4erstanding ofsome kind, maybe a rlvaJry between different bodies," he
said, singling out "the P~ntagon and the CIA."
SharansIcY said the ban ori e~pionage
in the 'United states dates to the scandal over Jonathan Pollard, an
American Jew caught spying for Isr!1el in 1985. Sharansky, who belongs to P.rime Minister A~el Sharon's
ruling Likud Party, said he pas "personal experience" with the ban, but he did not elaborate.
"There are absolutely no attempts to involve any member ofthe Jewish community and any general
Ameri~an citiz~ns to sPY fQr Israel against the United States:' he.said.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office issued a denial late SatUrday, saying "Israel does not engage in
intelligence activitie~
in the U.S. II
The scandal dominated Israeli news media on Sunday. In numerous interviews, both current and former
Israeli intelligence officials said it was pighly unlikely t~at
Israel would have to spy on the.U.S.
government.
Legislator Ehud Yatom, chairman ofthe parliamentary su6committee on covert intelligence, said he
expected the allegations to be quickly withdrawn.
"I imagine that within a few days the United States will come oqt wi~ an'announcement that Israel has
no connection whatsoever with t~e supposed spy and his activities," he told Israel Radio.
Uii Arad~ a former senior offlcial in the Mossad spy agency, said the allegations were-leaked to hurt tile
pro-Israel lobby in Washington. ~
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