"Israel has a severe image problem in the United States; the
publication of the Defence Department memorandum accusing Israel of
espionage, is merely one symptom of the problem. It is Israel, not the
United States, that must take immediate, concrete steps to correct her
image, so as to prevent damage to her relations with Washington. Anyone
accusing the Defence Department of antisemitism does not know what he
is talking about". This statement was elicited in an interview today
with Dr. Dov Zackheim, formerly Deputy Secretary of Defence for
Planning and Resources in the Reagan administration, and presently a
security consultant in Washington.
Zackheim is a familiar figure in Israel's defence establishment and
in defence industries, inter alia due to his crucial role in the
campaign against the Lavi project.
"The main problem is that complaints against Israel have been
continually voiced for many years", says Zackheim. "If it isn't the sale
of US technology to China one year, it's military collaboration with
South Africa the next year, or the theft of secrets or equipment from
US plants in the third year, or espionage against the United States
in the fourth. There's something else every year".
"I am not in a position to determine whether there is any fire behind
this smoke; but there certainly is a lot of smoke, and Israel is doing
nothing to clear it", says Zackheim. "This is not America's problem,
but Israel's".
The solution, according to Zackheim: Israel ought to be making a
special effort to purge the atmosphere surrounding her and take every
possible measure to ensure that official emissaries - or emissaries of
Israeli companies - do not encounter situations in which their actions
are liable, rightly or wrongly, to be misconstrued. "You just need to
be more careful", says Zackheim.