Israel Denies Smuggling Bomb Secrets : Got U.S. Equipment for Cluster Device Legally, Ministry Says

The Defense Ministry today sharply denied allegations that Israel illegally smuggled U.S. technology to build cluster bombs.

In an official statement, the ministry expressed “astonishment” at the allegations and said they are “likely to damage Israel’s good name without justification and hurt the good relations between the United States and Israel.”

Dave Hoover, a U.S. Customs official in Washington, said Tuesday night that the Customs Service and Justice Department are investigating suspicions that Israel tried to obtain technology from private contractors in the United States to build cluster bombs. When detonated, cluster bombs release hundreds of smaller explosives.

‘No Foundation’

The Israeli communique said an internal investigation showed that “there clearly is no foundation to the allegations.”

U.S. Ambassador Thomas P. Pickering gave a copy of the allegations to Prime Minister Shimon Peres, Israel radio reported.

“The ministry states that all the purchases were carried out legally and there was no item, large or small, connected with this matter which was exported without the license required by law,” the Israeli statement said.

Reports that Israel used cluster bombs in its air raids on Beirut during the 1982 invasion of Lebanon created an outcry in Congress, and further exports of the bombs were banned.

Government officials here complained that the public exposure of the accusations appeared to be aimed at embarrassing Israel before it had a chance to prepare a response.

“It is difficult to avoid the impression that someone on the top in Washington is hunting us,” left-wing legislator Yossi Sarid said on Israel radio.

“On Israel’s side, I am worried about whether anyone in Jerusalem really knows what’s going on. . . . There have been too many affairs which made it clear that the politicians did not know and did not hear and did not give the order.”

Sarid appeared to be referring to the case of Jonathan Jay Pollard, the U.S. Navy analyst who pleaded guilty to spying for Israel and implicated four Israelis as co-conspirators. Israel said Pollard was part of a small, renegade operation acting without the knowledge of Israeli leaders. But the case has severely strained Israel’s relations with the United States.