Israeli indicted in pollard case gives up his post

Thomas L. Friedman - New York Times - March 30, 1987

JERUSALEM, March 29 The Israeli Air Force officer accused of recruiting an American intelligence analyst as a spy announced tonight that he was giving up his recent military promotion because of the problems it had caused between Israel and the United States.

But the officer, Col. Aviem Sella, indicated that he would remain in the Air Force in an undisclosed capacity.

Colonel Sella was indicted in Washington on March 3 by a Federal grand jury that said he was instrumental in setting in motion the activities of Jonathan Jay Pollard, an American naval intelligence analyst, in spying for Israel. The contact was said to have been made while the colonel was on a study leave at New York University. Promotion at Issue

After Colonel Sella was promoted three weeks ago to command the Tel Nof air base, south of Tel Aviv, the United States announced that American military and civilian personnel would have nothing to do with the base, where attaches had debriefed Israeli pilots of American-made planes, as long as he was in charge.

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