Israeli Spy 'Permission' Reported

New York Times - March 20, 1987

JERUSALEM, March 19 An Israeli official who helped direct the espionage activities of Jonathan Jay Pollard in the United States told a Government commission investigating the affair that he acted with ''permission and authority,'' the newspaper Haaretz reported today.

If the report is accurate, the testimony by the official, Rafael Eitan, directly contradicts what Israel has said since the Pollard affair started to unfold -that the incident was a ''rogue operation'' and that spying on the United States runs contrary to Israeli policy.

Proceedings of the Cabinet-appointed commission are secret.

A United States court sentenced Mr. Pollard to life imprisonment for stealing hundreds of classified American States documents and passing them to Israel. His wife, Anne Henderson-Pollard, received a jail sentence for her involvement in the conspiracy.

After the Pollards were arrested, Mr. Eitan was forced out of his job as head of the scientific intelligence unit that directed Mr. Pollard's activities. He was then named to head the Israeli state chemical company. Another official involved in the affair, Col. Aviem Sella, has been placed in charge of one of Israel's largest air bases.

View original article.