Newspaper Page Text
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2 Israelis deny complicity
in alleged arms conspiracy
by Hugh Orgel
TEL AVIV (JTA)—Two of six
Israelis charged by U.S. authori
ties with conspiracy to sell more
than $2 billion in American wea
pons illegally to Iran, denied in
Jerusalem Tuesday that they were
in any way involved in a clandes
tine plot.
Yitzhak Lombrozo, a lawyer,
and Yitzhak Hevroni, an ordained
rabbi who is financial officer of the
Hebron Yeshiva, are among 17
men of six nationalities who were
arrested or had warrants issued
against them in New York on April
22.
Also named in the charges bv
U.S. Federal Prosecutor Rudolph
Giuliani were Israel and Gi Eisen-
berg. a father and son who head
the Bazalet International Trading
Co. ( BIT) in Jerusalem, a firm the
U.S. says was implicated in the
alleged conspiracy. Hevroni is
treasurer of BIT.
Arrested in Bermuda April 22
were a retired Israel Defense Force
general, Avraham Baram, and William
Northrop, who holds dual U.S.-
Israeli citizenship. They allegedly
flew to the British colony to final
ize the arms deal and are being held
on charges of violating immigra
tion regulations, pending extradi
tion to the U.S.
Lombrozo, identified as “Hum-
posa” in reports from the U.S., is a
partner in the Jerusalem law firm
of Hadaniand Lombrozo. He stepped
forward Tuesday to acknowledge
that he had drawn up the incorpo
ration papers for BIT last Febru
ary and insisted it was a legitimate
firm engaged in lawful trade.
According to Lombrozo, he also
drafted the documents for the arms
deal, which he said stated explicit
ly that any transaction was condi
tional on authorization by the U.S.
and Israeli governments. “It was
only a $400 million deal,” Lom
brozo said, adding that he had no
idea where the $2.5 billion figure
mentioned in the American charges
came from.
Lombrozo and Hevroni said
Tuesday that they have not been
notified by U.S. authorities of any
action pending against them. Hev
roni said he handled BIT’s finan
cial matters and knew the com
pany was engaged in arranging
some kind of arms transaction.
However, he stressed, he was
positive it was not illeeal If an
arms deal were about to be con
summated “they (BEL) would have
obtained full prior authorization
from both the U.S. and the Israeli
governments before goingthrough
with the deal,” he said.
Giuliani, who is the chief U.S.
prosecutor for New York, said last
week that there is “no suggestion of
involvement by the Israeli govern
ment” in the alleged conspiracy.
The Foreign Ministry and Defense
Ministry categorically denied that
Israel was involved.
According to Giuliani and U.S.
Customs officials, the accused men
conspired to sell Iran several hun
dred F-4 and F-5 jet fighters, 15,000
TOW air-to-air missiles, scores of
tanks and helicopters, long-range
artillery and C-130 military trans
port planes in violation ofthe U.S.
arms embargo against Iran. The
weapons were to be delivered in
Greek ships and were presently
stored in Israel and other coun
tries, the U.S. officials said.
— Reagan says yes to Herzog~\
WASHINGTON (JTA)—President Reagan has accepted the
invitation of Israel’s President Chaim Herzog to act as honorary
chairman of the David Ben-Gurion Centennial Committee of the
United States, it was announced here by the centennial committee.
Reagan’s participation in the year-long celebration of the birth
of Israel’s first Prime Minister acknowledges the special relation
ship between the United States and Israel, the Committee said.
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PAGE 7 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE May 2, 1986