U.S. Indicts Israeli General on Spy Counts

A federal grand jury Tuesday indicted a senior officer of the Israeli air force on charges that he recruited American spy Jonathan Jay Pollard and received U.S. defense secrets from Pollard over a two-year period.

Justice Department officials said that the indictment handed down against Brig. Gen. Aviem (Avi) Sella marked the first time that a high-ranking military or civilian official of a U.S. ally has been formally accused of espionage against the United States.

The three-count indictment of Sella, representing a direct slap at the credibility of top Israeli leaders, added to the strain in U.S.-Israeli relations brought on by the 1985 arrest and prosecution of Pollard and his wife.

Pollard, 32, is scheduled to be sentenced today on his guilty plea last June to espionage charges and could receive a maximum sentence of life imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. His wife, Anne Henderson-Pollard, 26, is awaiting sentencing today on lesser charges.

At the time of Pollard’s arrest two years ago, Israeli officials apologized to the United States and insisted that the spying was “a renegade operation.” But Pollard, in a court statement filed last week, said that “extremely detailed” requests for U.S. intelligence data indicated that top Israeli intelligence officials were directing those efforts. The Sella indictment supported that statement.

“The type of collection guidance I received suggested a highly coordinated effort between the naval, army and air force intelligence services (of Israel),” said Pollard, who was a civilian intelligence analyst for the U.S. Navy.

Pentagon ‘Outraged’

A source close to the investigation, who spoke on condition that he not be named, said Tuesday: “The way this is unfolding, it’s difficult for Israel to continue to maintain this is a rogue operation. People have become concerned not only about the crime but also about the cover-up . . . . When the Department of Defense saw the level of damage done (by the Sella-Pollard operation), they were outraged.”

The indictment charges that, in the early summer of 1984, Sella began conspiring with Pollard and three Israelis posted in the United States to obtain “information and documents relating to the national defense of the United States, having intent and reason to believe that the same would be used to the advantage of Israel.”

The indictment did not describe the exact nature of the data received by Sella except that it included “intelligence publications and reconnaissance satellite photographs,” as well as volumes on “military geography” of foreign countries.

‘Outer Ring’ Enemies

However, Pollard has said in court papers that he was congratulated by “the highest levels of the Israeli government” for top-secret U.S. documents he turned over on “their outer ring of enemies, namely Libya, Algeria, Iraq and Pakistan.”

U.S. Atty. Joseph E. diGenova said that Sella could receive a sentence of life imprisonment and fines of $500,000 if convicted on all charges. But Sella may never stand trial because the U.S.-Israel extradition treaty exempts espionage, diGenova said. Thus, he would face arrest only if he were to travel to the United States.

Another source said that Justice Department officials have moved to revoke informal grants of immunity from prosecution given to the three Israeli associates of Sella and that indictments against them will be sought in the coming weeks.

Potential Defendants

He identified the potential defendants as Rafi Eitan, an Israeli intelligence official; Joseph Yagur, a former science consul at the Israeli Consulate in New York, and Irit Erb, a former secretary at the Israeli Embassy in Washington.

Further aggravating the situation is the Israeli government’s recently announced plan to promote Sella, the commander of an Israeli air force base, to an undisclosed higher position.

Considering the evidence that the Justice Department compiled against Sella, Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III “absolutely hit the ceiling” when he learned of the promotion, one official said. The Reagan Administration’s displeasure was privately made known to Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin by U.S. charge d’affaires Arthur Hughes in Israel.

Promotion Opposed

State Department officials said that the Administration viewed a promotion for Sella as “not appropriate” in light of an understanding reached by the two governments in 1985 that all Israelis involved in the Pollard case would be “held to account.”

An official close to the investigation said that Nathan Lewin, Sella’s Washington lawyer, recently had said that the Israeli general would be willing to plead “no contest” to reduced charges if plans to indict him were abandoned. But prosecutors rejected the proposal out of hand, the source said. Lewin refused to comment on the case.