Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : CDDD -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: blebovits who wrote (776)	4/22/2001 3:04:13 PM
From: afrayem onigwecher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 924

Sunday April 22 2:51 PM ET Israel Arrests Retired Scientist By DINA KRAFT, Associated Press Writer JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel announced Sunday the arrest of a retired Israeli brigadier general for transferring confidential military material. A British newspaper said he was believed to have been involved in the country's nuclear program. Yitzhak Yaakov, 75, a former military scientist, was arrested March 28 and charged with passing confidential military information to unauthorized parties with the intention of harming state security, court documents said. Yaakov's lawyer, Yehoshua Reznik, said his client denied the charges against him. ``This is not a story of espionage, or something that includes an enemy country or enemy agents or a spy who intended on damaging state security,'' Reznick told Channel Two. ``The truth will come to light.'' An Israeli gag order on the case was partially lifted after the Sunday Times newspaper of London reported details of the arrest, including that he was arrested in Israel after his relationship with a Russian woman raised suspicions. According to sections of the indictment released to the press, Yaakov, who worked in weapons development during his time in the military, was warned by security officials several times that it was forbidden to pass on military information to any unauthorized people. Yaakov, who holds both Israeli and U.S. citizenship, retired almost 25 years ago from the Israeli army. He served in the military as a brigadier general and chief of research and development. Israeli police and the office of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) refused to comment Sunday on the case. The Times said Yaakov's friends in the United States, where he worked until last year as chairman of the New York-based company Constellation 3D Inc., expressed surprise at the news of his arrest. The computer hardware company develops advanced optical data storage products, and has branches in Israel and Russia. Excerpts from a video tape of Yaakov's lavish 75th birthday party held last month were broadcast on Channel Two where they said high ranking figures in Israel's defense and business establishment were present. Yaakov was believed to have been involved in Israel's nuclear program during his time in the military, and when he worked as the chief scientist at the Ministry of Industry, The Times said. The U.S. State Department in Washington told the newspaper that Yaakov should be entitled to consular assistance. The U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv told The Associated Press it could not comment on the case. Israel has a nuclear reactor in Dimona, in the Negev Desert in the south of the country, and is widely assumed to have nuclear weapons. But the country has always refused to comment on its nuclear capabilities. Mordechai Vanunu, a technician who worked at Israel's nuclear reactor at Dimona, is serving 18 years in prison for giving pictures taken inside the reactor to The Sunday Times in 1986. Based on the photographs, nuclear experts said Israel had the world's sixth-largest stockpile of nuclear weapons. The CIA (news - web sites) has estimated more recently that Israel has between 200 and 400 nuclear weapons. Email this story - View most popular \| Printer-friendly format Earlier Stories Report: Israel Arrests Scientist (April 22) dailynews.yahoo.com