U.S. Tells Dismay in Israel Spy Case : Still Waiting to Question 2 Diplomats

Two Israeli diplomats implicated in the Jonathan J. Pollard espionage case left the United States within 24 hours of Pollard’s arrest, but Israel withheld information about their departure for five days while repeatedly promising U.S. investigators its “full cooperation,” the State Department said Friday.

Department spokesman Charles Redman, who revealed new details of the bizarre case, said the U.S. government is dismayed at Israel’s failure so far to supply information about the activities of Pollard, a Navy intelligence analyst.

“On (Wednesday) Nov. 27, Israeli officials informed us that two Israeli officials had left the United States on Friday, Nov. 22,” Redman said. Pollard was arrested by the FBI when he tried to crash his car into the Israeli Embassy compound on Thursday, Nov. 21.

Denials Continued

Even after informing the State Department of the officials’ departure, Israel continued to deny it in public. Israeli Ambassador Meir Rosenne told reporters Wednesday, “Nobody has left.” Israeli officials, talking to reporters in Jerusalem, confirmed their departure Thursday.

Redman said that the United States asked Israel even before the diplomats left to make available for questioning any individuals with information about the Pollard case. He said Israeli Embassy officials promised to cooperate.

“However, they (Israeli authorities) have not yet provided the full and prompt cooperation we requested a week ago,” Redman said. “We regret this delay and are urging the Israeli government to respond promptly. . . . We are dismayed that the government of Israel was not as forthcoming as we would have hoped and expected.”

Redman said that the United States continues to request “all information it (Israel) has in connection with this case, including the return of any documents and access to Israeli officials involved.”

He said that U.S. investigators are willing to question Israelis either in the United States or in Israel. Although attention has focused on the two diplomats who suddenly left the United States, Redman said that investigators want to interrogate all individuals who know about the case.

Cooperation Delayed

An Israeli Embassy official, who asked not to be identified by name, said Friday that Israel promised to cooperate in the investigation, but he implied that the assistance will not begin until the Israeli government completes its own investigation of the case.

“The government will complete, hopefully pretty soon, its investigation and then we will see what will happen,” he said.

The speed with which the two diplomats--identified by sources in Jerusalem as Yosef Yagur, scientific consul at the Israeli mission in New York, and Ilan Ravid, deputy science attache in Washington--left for home after Pollard’s arrest cast some doubt on Israel’s claims that high-level officials knew nothing about the spy operation in the United States.

The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem issued a formal statement Sunday, two days after Yagur and Ravid had suddenly returned to Israel, saying that “Israel’s political leadership received with shock and consternation” the reports of Pollard’s arrest as a spy for Israel.

Diplomatic Immunity

Because Yagur and Ravid have diplomatic immunity, the Israeli government would be within its rights under international law to refuse to allow U.S. investigators to talk to them. However, U.S. officials stressed that Israel, probably hoping to avoid erosion of relations with its most important ally, promised to cooperate without invoking diplomatic immunity.

Obscured by Redman’s diplomatically worded complaints about Israeli foot-dragging was a growing anger within the U.S. government not only over Israel’s apparent dissembling but also over attempts by Israeli officials, in remarks to correspondents in Jerusalem, to dismiss the matter by claiming that the United States also spies on Israel.

Although Redman stopped short of a categorical denial of U.S. espionage in Israel, he said, “We’re not aware of any U.S. officials having ever been expelled for intelligence or espionage reasons.”

He denied reports in the Israeli press that the United States has covertly or illegally obtained its assessments of Israeli defense capabilities. “Those assessments were made in the course of our longstanding defense relationship and intelligence exchanges with the government of Israel,” he said.

Despite his criticism of Israel, Redman said: “As difficult as this case may be, I don’t think there’s been any implication that the normal relationship has been in some way fundamentally interrupted.”

Biggest Aid Recipient

Israel is by far the largest recipient of U.S. military and economic aid, and the Israeli armed forces depend on U.S.-supplied weapons to maintain military superiority over their Arab neighbors. The United States and Israel regularly exchange intelligence information.

Pollard, a civilian intelligence analyst for the Navy, was accused in court papers of turning over a large volume of classified documents to his Israeli “handlers” in exchange for a monthly retainer of $2,500, a sum that probably would have attracted notice in Israeli government circles because it is about three times the pay of an army general.

The Times reported Friday that Pollard’s contact in Israel was a little-known military intelligence operation known by the Hebrew acronym LEKEM. The operation is headed by Rafael Eitan, a counterterrorism adviser to former Prime Ministers Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir.

Journalist Questioned

Meanwhile, an American independent television producer, whose name Pollard gave to the FBI as a contact, confirmed in a telephone interview that he knew Pollard as a news source but was aware of nothing that would connect Pollard to espionage. The FBI has questioned the producer and concluded that he did not violate any laws, U.S. officials familiar with the case said.

“I’ve known the guy (Pollard) for a long time,” said the producer, who asked not to be identified by name.

“He was the type of person who, if you had an area of concern, you’d think, My God . . . go out and have a drink with him and you’d have one of the best sources of all time,” he said. “The guy never shut up. He was a source of mine.”

Times staff writer Michael Wines contributed to this story.