NEW YORK (Reuters) - An 85-year-old former civilian employee of the U.S. Army was fined but avoided prison time on Friday after earlier pleading guilty to giving classified documents to Israel in the 1980s in a case the sentencing judge said was "shrouded in mystery." Court documents showed that Ben-Ami Kadish, who was fined $50,000 but spared prison time, reported to the same handler as Jonathan Pollard, an American who spied for Israel in the 1980s and triggered a scandal that rocked U.S.-Israeli relations. "Why it took the government 23 years to charge Mr. Kadish is shrouded in mystery," U.S. District Judge William Pauley said during the sentencing hearing in Manhattan federal court. "It is clear the (U.S.) government could have charged Mr. Kadish with far more serious crimes." Kadish pleaded guilty in December to acting as an unregistered agent of Israel. He was arrested in April 2008 on four counts of conspiracy and espionage. The spying charge, dropped under a plea deal, had carried a possible death sentence. "I am sorry I made a mistake," a frail-looking Kadish said during the sentencing hearing. "I thought I was helping the state of Israel without harming the United States." The judge said he gave a lenient sentence due to Kadish's age and infirmity, but said Kadish had committed "a grave offense" and had "abused the trust" of the United States. For much of the hearing, Kadish sat slumped in his chair with heavy eyelids. At one stage, he had to be shaken awake by his lawyer. MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEMS Prosecutors had recommended no prison time as part of the plea deal. They said between 1980 and 1985 Kadish provided classified documents, including some relating to U.S. missile defense systems, to an Israeli agent, Yosef Yagur, who photographed the documents at Kadish's residence. Yagur also was Pollard's main Israeli contact. Pollard, a former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst, is serving a life sentence after pleading guilty to spying for Israel in 1986. Israel gave Pollard citizenship in 1996 and acknowledged he was one of its spies in 1998. During the hearing, the judge questioned a prosecutor as to why it took so long to charge Kadish when the telephone records on which the case was based were available in the mid-1980s. "There is no mystery behind it, it's just what happened," said prosecutor Iris Lan, who explained she understood it took the FBI that amount of time to assemble the evidence. The judge also questioned Kadish's lawyer about how Kadish was able to earn $104,000 in 2007 when he does not work. His lawyer said it was from investments. Kadish was born in the United States but grew up on a farm in Palestine before the founding of the modern state of Israel. He served in the British and U.S. armies in World War II. From 1980 to 1985, Yagur asked Kadish to obtain classified documents, which Kadish retrieved from the U.S. Army's Picatinny Arsenal in Dover, New Jersey, according to a sworn statement by Kadish. Kadish said he kept up a friendship with Yagur after 1985. "While Kadish knew he was aiding Israel, an ally to the United States, he also knew his crime compromised the national security," the judge said. http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE54S65H20090529
Once again! I guess it became typical, they will say, oh, not a big deal, spying on U.S. is harmless because.. Israel and U.S. are allies? are they really that stupid in U.S. to dismiss the so many previous cases for that lame reason? why would an ally spy on his ally? they are supposed to cooperate, share info, but the answer comes from the famous (maybe famous for non-Americans) case of Pollard, they somehow found a way to blame Arabs for Israel spying on U.S. the reason that time was "spying for Israel security" so there won't be another surprising war like 1973 war... the Israelis were pressing on U.S. to release Pollard, for that reason, but CIA rejected this, not only rejected this, but they leaked some info why Pollard should stay in jail, if not shot even.. the info Pollard got was sold to soviet union, in return for allowing USSR Jews to immigrate to Israel... Why Pollard Should Never Be Released (The Traitor) a history of Israel spying on U.S. that started on 1947, and which resulted in some cases in the murder of U.S. citizens and soldiers, can be found here: Israeli Spying: The Mother of all Scandals
I wonder why he was given leniency because of old age , while the alleged 90 yo german prison guard was ruthlessly deported ?
No way man, these guys really care about America. It just coincidence that they only find things wrong when it benefits a Jew, and it is their love of our justice system that makes them defend old Nazis. How dare you conclude this is about Jews. These guys just love America.
a spy is a spy no matter what is his religion or race, are you saying that if a spy been caught and he was Jew then he should be released? if yes, why? just because he is Jew, also... did you both read the thread topic? it says an Israeli spy? do you know what is the difference between a Jew and an Israeli? if not, check this link Jews Against Zionism
You're starting to sound like NPT. How on earth do you interpret sarcasm to that conclusion? Bleh... Don't worry, I'm sure a portion of what I say here will be chopped, sliced and diced, then re-inserted out of context in the hopes of deriving yet another alternate meaning. You guys are masters at this.
No need. People just can quote your post without any explanation to show how stupid everything you post is.
Israel has our back and we have theirs. If we were ever attacked, they would go full-force in our defense. Guaranteed. This isn't really a big issue - at least, not as big as you're making it out to be. Who cares if they're spying on us? We have spies in almost every country - why? Because it's a good idea to keep tabs on everybody else. Ally or not.
Do you mean that every country should be welcoming spies as spying is not a big deal ? If they are really 'friends' then why would they need to spy ? State secrets have been stolen and you can just laugh it away?
new, don't forget to click the donate button on http://www.jewsagainstzionism.com/ They could use couple of dinars
that's a great idea, I wished if such a nice attitude was available earlier, it could have saved many..
As I look at the history of your posts they either consist of harassing, attacking or name calling or supporting pedofilia. I do not believe there has ever been one single instance of you adding anything of value to this forum. Julian, do us a favor and leave before your told to.
LOL. An idiot who can not even spell what he is accusing me of supporting. Any one can read my posts in DMOZ section and see while I was busy fighting them over the pedophilia site listings in DMOZ, you were busy kissing their A*s too get your sites listed. Now be a good boy and run to another section of forum and give me an anonymous red rep as you always do. By your actions during this so called "war on terror", you showed that you are a chicken who despite all his big talk is too coward to fight, so your actions in this forum fits your character.
http://www.google.com/search?q=pedo...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a Julian, you know for a fact when I rep you, I sign my name. And as I recall, they've always been Green... You guys and this rep fetish... Who is the "idiot" ? http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Pedofilia See ya in about a week or two..
You still are because if you even read the google result from your link, you would have noticed none of the result is in English. Also your quote from the free dictionary redirects and shows the correct spelling in the description as I mentioned. Are you claiming that you should spell a word in a English text in Spanish?