Political Insider: Kadish Consequences: Fallout from New Israel Spy Case
Posted By James BesserPolitical Insider: Kadish Consequences: Fallout from New Israel Spy Case
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Tuesday's arrest of Ben-Ami Kadish, an 84-year old retiree from New Jersey, on charges of spying for Israel more than two decades ago leaves more questions than answers - a situation which, naturally, has produced an avalanche of conspiracy theories.
Among them: the charge that the indictment was deliberately timed to prevent the release of convicted spy Jonathan Pollard (and never mind that there isn't a shred of evidence Pollard's release was under discussion at the White House) and that it was timed to erode support for Israel on the eve of a major U.S. peace push -- to soften the Jewish state up for new U.S. pressure. (Peace effort? Where? Talk about mirages).
Numerous reporters, including Stewart Ain in the Jewish Week (read story here), have asked relevant questions: why now, after all these years? What were government investigators looking for when they stumbled on Kadish, who was leading an exemplary life in a retirement community? Who talked, and why?
Despite the case's many mysteries, some of its consequences are pretty clear.
The case doesn't threaten a rupture in U.S.-Israel relations, but it doesn't do them any good, and it is a public relations fiasco, reminding people of a long-abandoned spying effort that tarnished Israel's image as an ally.
There is a strange paradox in U.S.-Israeli military cooperation; it is stronger than ever, but there is also a lingering element of suspicion on the U.S. end that can only be fueled by the new/old spy case.
The case seems like proof that those who argued that Israel never really came clean about its Pollard-era spying were right.
Despite being about as stale as a case can be, it will serve as fresh ammunition for those claiming pro-Israel Jews can't be trusted with government secrets. That was one legacy of the Pollard case; numerous high-level defense and security professionals who happened to be Jewish found themselves treated differently. Thanks to the bizarre Kadish affair, that's likely to happen again.
The case is one more bad piece of news for Pollard, now in his 23rd year of incarceration.
While there's no evidence President Bush was at all disposed to review the Pollard case, it would clearly be even more costly for him to do so while the Kadish case is generating headlines. The new case will reenergize those in the intelligence community who remain vehemently opposed to Pollard's release - a vehemence that derives from a number of factors, including dislike of Israel, exaggerated fears about rampant dual loyalty, concerns that Israel never really owned up to what it did in the 1980s and anger that Pollard and his supporters continue to suggest that what he did was justified by the failure of U.S. authorities to share vital intelligence with Israel.
The controversy probably won't affect the legal proceedings in the long-delayed trial of two former employees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the pro-Israel lobby, but it could magnify the public opinion fallout from the case.
Nobody has accused the two - Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman - of spying, for Israel or for anybody else, but with the phrase "Israeli spies" ricocheting across newspaper headlines, the public probably won't make that distinction.