Newspaper Page Text
Israel denies trying to steal
camera data from U.S. firm
by Joseph Polakoff
TSI’s Washington correspondent
WASHINGTON—Charges by
Recon Optical, Inc., of Barring
ton, Ill., that Israeli agents tried to
steal plans for a sophisticated air
borne spy camera system were char
acterized Aug. 19 at the Israeli
Embassy as a fabrication in a con
tract dispute under litigation in a
federal court in New York. The
U.S. Customs Service said it was
“investigating” Recon’s charges
while the Department of Justice
said it was “monitoring” them.
U.S. officials were reported as say
ing they had no evidence of Israeli
violation of federal law.
The charges art- the latest to
emerge against Israel in the wake
of the 10-month-old Pollard es
pionage case that is believed to
have given rise to an atmosphere of
suspicion which encourages delib
erate efforts by some elements to
besmirch U.S.-Israeli relations.
Recon was constructing the recon
naissance system for the Israeli
government under a $40 million
contract financed by the Defense
Department under its foreign mil
itary aid program. By using the
system, a plane flying near the
speed of sound can photograph a
person more than 100 miles away.
Israelis were allowed to have an
office in the Recon plant to moni
tor progress on the system since
work began in 1984, because con
struction was under Israeli specifi
cations. Last May, Recon ordered
them to leave the plant because it
was terminating the contract. On
May 27, according to press reports,
Recon security agents stopped three
Israeli Air Force officers leaving
the plant and confiscated 50,000
pages of technical drawings and
notes written in Hebrew.
The State Department, while re
ferring comment on the case to the
Justice Department, had approved
export of the system to Israel.
According to a civil suit, Recon
claims that the technology used to
produce the system was to remain
its property. It said Israel planned
to acquire the technology to enable
an Israeli firm to manufacture the
system.
Israeli sources described the ac
cusations as “utter nonsense.” They
said Israel is entitled to the tech
nology as part of the contract. Part
of the dispute was said to involve
cancellation of a letter of credit
and a rise in the cost of the system
to $100 million.
Officials agree to review case
against ‘Web of Deceit’ author
by Ron Csillag
MONCTON, New Brunswick,
(JTA)—In a dramatic turnaround
last week, New Brunswick Attor
ney General David Clark announced
he would review his decision not to
prosecute school teacher Malcolm
Ross of Moncton for allegedly
promoting hatred against Jews be
cause a book by Ross that was said
to be unavailable was found on
local library shelves.
The previous week, Clark an
nounced New Brunswick would
not institute charges against Ross,
based on the results of a 13-month
police investigation.
Clark ruled that Ross could not
be charged with wilfully promot
ing hatred against Jews under sec
tion 281.2 (2) of the Criminal Code
because two of his books did not
fall under the definition of hate
literature, while the third, “Web of
Deceit,” probably did, but was
“unavailable to the public,” having
been out of print for five years.
Only a few days after the an
nouncement, several journalists in
New Brunswick were able to get
copies of “Web of Deceit” from
local libraries, forcing red-faced
justice officials to reconsider their
decision.
The 106-page book, it seems,
was easily available from libraries
in Moncton, Fredericton, Saint
John and the University of New
Brunswick.
One journalist employed by the
Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
(CBC) said it was “easy” to get the
book, which was located in regular
library stacks and not within refer
ence material, making it available
for general check-out.
Dr. Mary Travis, regional librar
ian at Saint John Regional Library,
said the book’s popularity has in
creased in the past few months. In
one library, she noted, the book
has been checked out just five times
in eight years and not at all since
1982. Now, however, “you can rest
assured” the book has become pop
ular. Travis added there are no
plans to pull the book from the
shelves.
Clark was unavailable for com
ment on the several days his office
was contacted. A department offi
cial had no comment on the matter.
Dr. Julius Israeli, who filed the
original complaint against Ross
last summer, was exuberant at the
decision to reconsider. “It’s a gift
from heaven," he said. “I feel great.”
Israeli had not heard officially from
the justice department, but he said
h'e’s aware the sudden turn around
doesn’t necessarily mean Ross will
be charged. “It could take several
more weeks” of investigation, Is
raeli said, and the same decision
could be arrived at again.
Clark told a New Brunswick
newspaper immediately after his
ruling that his first decision, not to
prosecute, was “the most difficult”
he has had to make as justice min
ister and attorney general. He said
the long-term solution to problems
of this nature lies in public aware
ness and education and not in the
criminal justice system.
Although “Web of Deceit,” writ
ten in 1978, is widely available in
New Brunswick, it is not stored in
the Metro Toronto Library, Can
ada’s largest municipal library. But
the book is available to almost
anyone via an inter-library loan
from the National Library of Can
ada, according to spokesperson
Ruth Lawless.
She said in an interview that
Canadian law requires every pub
lisher in the country, regardless of
repute, to forward one or two
copies of every book published to
the national library in Ottawa,
Canada’s flagship collection of
books.
Lawless said “Web of Deceit” is
classified under three headings: civ
ilization, modern 20th century and
Canada/civilization. She said Ross’
book is stocked because the library
doesn’t make “value judgments”
on books’ contents.
In addition to authoring the
books, Ross runs the Stronghold
Publishing Company, which prints
and distributes them. He teaches
all subjects in grades seven, eight
and nine at a school outside Monc
ton, but an investigation by the
Canadian Jewish News last year
found no evidence he taught his
views in the classroom.
Jewish community officials were
surprised at Claik’s decision to
reconsider. Shimon Fogel, execu
tive director of the Atlantic Jewish
Council, said the move shows Clark
is “taking this seriously and is con
sistent with his conscientiousness.
But I’d be somewhat surprised if he
decided to lay charges just on the
merit of it (“Web of Deceit”) hav
ing been found in the library.”
Professor Bernie Vigod, regional
chairman of B’nai B’rith Canada’s
League for Human Rights, said
there is a “tremendous risk” of
Ross being acquitted if a charge is
instituted, “That would set back
the course of things quite a bit.”
d0’S ITALIAN
RESTAURANT
Regional Italian Cuisine carefully pre-
d
lijrMN pared under the watchful eye of owner
and h° st Perry.
Hours: £
1989 Cheshire Bridge
5-11 M-Th 1
5-11* F Si Sat.
Hi? 876-1380
1—-1
c?Ift^Moods .
Custom Framing
Prints • Poster Art
1 ^
Joan Schwartz, owner
Toco Hill Shopping Center ;
636-7877
Next to Kroger’s
IIMB
Congregation Beth Shaiom
A Conservative Synagogue Serving North Atlanta
Leonard H. Lifshen, Rabbi
invites you to our
Open House
Back-to-School
at AJCC/Zaban
Wed., Sept. 6, 1986
7:30 p.m.
Meet Alan Gorlin, Educational Director, and
our excellent staff.
Discuss our educational programs and
see curriculum and text books.
Come catefc out neu/ spM...
For further information, call synagogue office, 458-0489, or
Cheryl Bogrow, 923-4567.
The Congregation and
Rabbi Shalom Lewis
look forward to greeting you at our
MEMBERSHIP
SHABBAT
Saturday, September 6
9:30 a.m.
Kiddush luncheon following services
Junior Membership Available
Congregation €tz Choim
1190 Indian Hills Parkway
Marietta, Georgia 30067
For further information
and directions, call 973-0137
Free babysitting
provided
PAGE 3 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE August 22, 1986