Bad news for Jews: American accused of spying for Israel in ‘80s

The United States arrested an 84-year-old American on Tuesday suspected of giving Israel secrets on nuclear weapons, fighter jets and missiles in the 1980s, in a case linked to the Jonathan Pollard spy scandal that rocked U.S.-Israeli relations.

The arrest of Ben-Ami Kadish indicates that Israeli spying revealed by the Pollard case, still an irritant to the U.S. alliance with Israel, may have spread wider than previously acknowledged.

“It was bigger than we thought, and they hid it well,” said former U.S. Attorney Joseph diGenova, who prosecuted Pollard.

Kadish acknowledged his spying in FBI interviews and said he acted to help Israel, according to court documents.

This is, of course, bad news from Reuters. The reason being that for the past 60 years diaspora Jews have been looked at suspiciously by some neighbors who worry about their dual loyalty. Are they American Jews or Jewish Americans? (Google jewish dual loyalty and the top hits are for the Web site of David Duke.)

Obviously, they are both: patriotic Americans, or Frenchmen or South Africans, largely dedicated to Israel as their eternal home. This typically does not pose a problem. But, then again, people typically don’t get involved in international spy rings.

Rosner’s Blog for Ha’aretz has a link to the court docs. And Mondoweiss, a liberal Jewish blog, notes a decade-old GAO report that claimed Israel “conducts the most aggressive espionage operation against the United States of any U.S. ally.”

Pollard, a former Navy intelligence analyst who copped to spying for Israel, though what he gave up has yet to be revealed, remains in prison.