The flashing blue sparkle in the eyes of Dr. Aviem Sela played no little role - or so people said at the time, more than 15 years ago - in the Pollard affair. Jonathan Pollard, then 31, saw Sela, the officer and pilot then stationed in Washington, as the ultimate native Israeli. Behind every good spy story apparently stands some kind of infatuation, and Pollard was infatuated, figuratively, of course, with his strong blue-eyed handler.
The sparkle is still there. So is Pollard - in prison. The "affair" has remained a deep stain on Israel ever since.
On the crowded Internet site of Jonathan Pollard and his wife Esther, which calls for justice to be done and for Pollard to be freed, the following sentence appears: "On November 21, 1999, Jonathan Pollard entered the fifteenth year of his life sentence with no end in sight."
On the Israeli side, no slime seems to have stuck to Sela (54). In the US, it's a different story. Ever since, Sela has been prevented from entering the US, or, in his own words, "I can enter, but I won't be able to leave."
The Americans to this day want to put Sela into the interrogation room, and for quite a few years they also did all they could to harm him. For a very long time, the holder of a doctorate in information systems ran into them wherever he tried to fit in. Years ago, it was said that when El Op wanted to use his services, the Americans learned about it and announced: If Sela is in, forget about doing business with us.
"Yes", Sela says, "In the first years after Pollard was caught, the US made problems, but that was a long time ago. Today I have no problem in conducting business connections with public, government, and private bodies, either in Israel or overseas."
An option for options
Sela appeared in public this week together with his partner Avner Yehudai at the presentation of the www.idex.co.il web site of IDEX Online, the Israel Derivatives and Foreign Currency Exchange. The site provides infrastructure for an electronic exchange for marketing and trade in foreign currency and derivative financial instruments. The goal is to make the site a center for the activity of players, banks, and other market makers, in the hope of expanding the use and possibilities of this unique market.
The new exchange will operate manually at first, and electronically at a later stage. It will offer for the first time in Israel options on individual shares included in the Tel Aviv 25 basket of shares index. Also to be presented are indications for OTC options on the nominal, real, and dollar-linked yield of the Tel Aviv 25 index. The site offers money managers an options and flow basket tailored to the individual.
In the first stage, the site will provide users with an indication of market prices. The next stage will be facilitating active round-the-clock online trade.
Without stepping on each others' corns
At the end of 1996, Avner Yehudai, CPA, and Dr. Aviem Sela founded AA Diversity Financing (Gvanim). "Our professional acquaintance developed into friendship", they explain, and Sela adds with a smile that the written agreement between them contains exactly one page, with double profits between the lines. "The business and partnership is based on the recognition that we are different people. We don't step on each others' corns, and each of us deals in his field of expertise."
There is something inhibited, distant, almost competitive in their style of speaking. Sela escapes uncomfortable conversational topics through personal charm. Yehudai, an eligible bachelor, is most at ease in the area of put and call options. In any other area, however, he frequently interrupts himself, gives a feeling of restrained distance, and talks neither of his great loyalty to the Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball team or his being conductor of the Ra'anana orchestra. It is said that he will soon have to take a vacation to prepare for the first concert.
No answers for Pollard
At the exact time when Gvanim was being formed and established in the Israeli market, Attorney Larry Dub appealed to the High Court of Justice (HCJ) in Israel to order then-Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to admit that Jonathan Pollard worked and operated on behalf of the Israeli government.
HCJ case no. 2633/97 was registered on May 1, 1997 and published in "Globes" the same night. Minutes after its publication, the file was put in a safe and the appeal was defined as classified.
From the section published, it can be seen that Pollard, isolated in prison, wished to force Netanyahu to reveal many details concerning Pollard's activity, and to list what actions were taken by Israeli governments and their leaders in order to free him.
When he became involved in espionage, Pollard was a US Navy officer and analyst. He discovered that information concerning Syria, Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon, essential to Israel's security, was being deliberately withheld by certain parties in the US defense establishment. After a meeting with Rafi Eitan, head of LAKAM, Israel's scientific and technological espionage agency, he was recruited by Colonel Aviem Sela. He afterwards continued his contacts with his handlers Aviem Sela and Yosef Yagur.
In his appeal, Pollard lists the processes that led in the end to his arrest.
As stated above, upon its short-lived publication, the appeal was immediately classified. The official response today says that the appeal was thrown out on May 13, 1998, or a decision was made that its was "top secret." Jonathan Pollard's home site says that the Israeli government confirmed on May 12, 1998 that Pollard was its agent, and essentially took responsibility for his actions.
Sela declines to comment on the affair, certainly as long as Pollard is still in prison. The US demand to question Sela and his Israeli colleagues in the affair is linked to a question which has reached the proportions of a conspiracy theory, and which resurfaces occasionally, most recently in the trial of the Jews imprisoned in Iran for espionage on behalf of Israel. The question is whether there was, or still is, a high-ranking US defense official operating on behalf of Israel.
Only wealthy, personable customers
Gvanim manages the financial portfolios of 132 customers, amounting to hundreds of millions of shekels. Among the portfolios are the nostro portfolios of banks, insurance companies, institutions like the Ports Authority, the Alumot mutual fund, kibbutzim, venture capital funds, four public companies, and both Israeli and overseas residents.
"We only accept quality customers", both Sela and Yehudai say. Yehudai: "Why don't we accept anyone operating on credit? Because we don't want to be part of the risk involved in that situation."
On December 31, 1997, the Harel Mishmar group acquired 33% of Gvanim for $700,000. Harel Mishmar chairman and general manager Yair Hamburger said at the time that the main interest was in the company's subsidiary, AA Diversity Financial Derivatives, which was then beginning to develop and market financial derivatives on shares, interest rates, currency exchange rates, bonds, inflation, etc.
The field was new in Israel, certainly in the private market, and Hamburger emphasizes his belief that "This field will become a desirable commodity, and will in future be launched as part of the insurance sector."
How much is the business currently worth? It's probably classified as top secret.
You can't talk about that, either.
Sela and Yehudai say that they are equal partners in a set-up comprising four main groups:
Gvanim, which coordinates the IDEX activity, derivatives, consultation, and finances.
A second subsidiary, Milo Human Resources Counseling Center, was set up on the basis of a manpower company, and was acquired by Sela and Yehudai. An Internet site for employee screening test will soon be set up.
The Milo framework includes a rather amazing activity, considering the identity of people involved: Keshev, which provides psychological counseling services to employees and their families. This activity is done through an international partner, who inevitably, is also anonymous.
A large area of activity, mostly Sela's involves a company for information systems planning, classifying, and management counseling. The company engages in developing technology for methodology, control, and defense industry development systems of various sorts, including a partnership in development of defense products. In recent years, Sela has been involved in actively promoting the unification of various factors in Israeli defense industries, mainly around unification of exports. That too cannot be discussed.
Another activity which began very recently is called Matmonim. This is a combined incubator and capital fund for accompanying start-up companies at the seed stage. The initial investment is $10 million, and financial coverage is done with the support of the consultation company Somekh Chaikin KPMG Israel.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on May 18, 2000