Posted on 04/23/2008 3:31:41 AM PDT by RU88
NEW YORK (AP) — A former U.S. Army mechanical engineer used his job at a military research center to fetch dozens of classified defense documents for an Israeli agent, prosecutors say.
The agent — who was at the center of another, infamous 1980s espionage scandal — provided Ben-ami Kadish with wish lists of secret records, according to prosecutors. Over six years, Kadish took home information about nuclear weapons, a modified version of an F-15 fighter jet and the U.S. Patriot missile air defense system, and he let the unidentified Israeli consulate worker photograph the documents in his basement, prosecutors say.
More than two decades later, the 84-year-old Kadish was charged Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan with four counts of conspiracy, including allegations that he disclosed U.S. national defense documents to Israel and acted as an agent of the Israeli government.
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
All nations spy on each other, yes we would send a spy into Canada or France or Israel, and they will do the same to us.
Information gathering among friends by intelligence agencies has been going on forever. Not at the same level as our enemies of course, Israel does not use the same effort or techniques here as they do to Iran or Syria but the whole point of an intelligence agency is to gather all the data they can.
A nation doesn’t really have friends when it comes to intelligence gathering, they have competitors.
because they will turn around and sell the info to the chicoms?
No, all nations do not spy on each other.
Canada does not spy on the US, Britain does not try to steal secret US military info, Japan does not try to steal American military secrets. Real friends do not spy on each other. It’s really not that complicated.
In short, “everybody else does it anyway” is not a valid excuse. And that’s what makes cases like these so maddening, when the US gets stabbed in the back by a country it has, over the years, gone out of its way to support. What gratitude, eh?
That’s my point. If other allies spy on us and we shrug... why do we get all up in arms over Israel, an ally, spying on us?
Heck, we seem to be more aghast at Israel spying on us than China, for pete’s sake!
another jonathan pollard
Because the American public might elect a nut like Obama and Israel needs to protect its own...On some occasions America has left its Friends to defend for itself in the past...Vietnam, the Shah and maybe now Iraq...So why should Israel not do whatever it needs to survive...
Good lucid points.
good job.
Most certainly is.
High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]
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I'm very upset about this story and I don't automatically defend anyone, Jewish or otherwise, who spies on the United States. But I would like to point out that this is not a case of still spying on us. This guy's activities stopped over 20 years ago. That's not an excuse, but important context.
In addition, I'm upset because this revelation will hurt attempts to get Jonathan Pollard released on parole. IMHO, he has paid his dues for the wrong he did. And wrong he did do, no mistake about it. But he has now served longer than anyone EVER convicted of a similar crime. I know that a number of prominent government officials have spoken out against his release, but they never explain why. After he made a plea bargain for the purpose of avoiding a life sentence, the DOJ betrayed him and insisted on the life sentence anyway.
Speaking strictly as an American, I think that if clemency or parole can be granted to all kinds of unsavory characters who have served much less time or no time at all, it can be granted for Pollard, too. 23 years behind bars is enough.
I am Jewish and a supporter of Israel. Nevertheless, I am an American and not an Israeli and my loyalty is to the United States, first, last, and always. In particular, I recognize that our interests and theirs are not always identical.
In Israel’s case, we must also withhold certain information because we cannot entirely prevent further transfers of that information, and the Israelis have in fact made transfers that work against our interest.
Beyond that, we don’t have any control over their security apparatus and we cannot therefore allow that apparatus to be responsible for our national security, competent though their agencies are.
Finally, allowing one spy to defeat the system for ideological reasons weakens the system. This wouldn’t be much of an argument for sending people to prison if our national survival did not depend on the integrity on that system. But it does. We have secrets for a reason, sometimes not a good reason, but just as often a matter of life and death.
My most accounts, aggressively and on an continuing basis, our "highest ranking" informant having been a member of the Knesset. That justifies nothing, but welcome to the real world.
I'm very upset about this story and I don't automatically defend anyone, Jewish or otherwise, who spies on the United States. But I would like to point out that this is not a case of still spying on us. This guy's activities stopped over 20 years ago. That's not an excuse, but important context….
Last first, Pollard’s case won’t go down as an example of American justice, hopefully it won’t go down as a 20th century Dreyfus affair, but screw Pollard. He was a traitor who sold information to Israel. Israel turned him over to the FBI, if many reports are to be believed they provided the information about Kadish in that context, back to that later. Pollard pled to a crime that carried life, that’s what the judge gave him. I acknowledge that our judicial system would collapse if that’s how plea agreements were handled, but *hit happens. No tears for him, or Kadish, from me.
That said, if in fact we’ve known about Kadish for years, and chose to prosecute now, that’s disturbing. He shouldn’t have been allowed two decades of freedom on the off chance that we’d need something on Israel decades later, something that won’t resonate anywhere or with anyone. Other perhaps than in Israel where some reports suggest it’s time to spill the goods on American agents caught, but given a free ride for obvious reasons.
IMO all for the benefit of those lovely palestinians and their Arab friends
Of course not, but Israel isn't a friend.
A pass to Canada, when it comes to defending their nation, well......., and industrial espionage, Canada isn't exactly a technological Japan or Israel.
Love the deer, moose too, and most of the people.
At first, I didn’t know the name, but saw it in this article.
Kadish.
Then I saw the first name: Ben Ami.
Then I googled his name and read other articles—he was from Clifton, NJ.
Then I realized who it was—the father of an elementary school classmate. I was in their house as a youngster. I can remember talking to Mr. Kadish on my visits there, when I worked with his son on a third or fourth grade school project.
These were very nice people. I am in shock.
Small world.
If that is true - then the US is in heap big trouble vis a vis the Almighty.
“the DOJ betrayed him “.
How about Jonathan Pollard betrayed his country.
How about Pollare was fortunate he didn’t get hung.
How about Pollard gave loads of top secret info to a foreign country?
Honestly, I am a big supporter of Israel, I am an American 1st though.
“What the hell is our “friend Israel” still spying on us to begin with?”
This occurred during 1979 and 1985.
Who was President of the USA during the bulk of this time, in particular, from 1977-1981? Who controlled Congress?
And has said President proven to be a friend of Israel?
Then ask yourself, if you were an Israeli, would you have felt very, very alone, and that, just perhaps, said President would sell you down the river in about two seconds?
And then think, who was President Reagan’s chief of staff? James Baker? Did he like Jewish people? Or did he say things like “F#ck the Jews, they don’t vote for us, anyway!”
Ping, see my last post.
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