The London “Sunday Times” revealed today that retired brigadier-general Itzhak Yaakov, former chief of research and development for the Israel Defense Force (IDF), is being detained in Israel.
According to the newspaper, Itzhak Yaakov, 75, played an important role in the early development of Israel’s nuclear weapons program. He is being questioned about his relationship with a Russian woman who may have had access to his work.
The weekly newspaper claims that the authorities have imposed an injunction banning all reporting in Israel on the proceedings against Yaakov and his arrest and subsequent detention by the Ministry of Defense’s special security department on March 28. Yaakov holds joint Israel-American citizenship.
The report states that the case stunned Yaakov’s friends in the US, where he lived and worked until last September as chairman of a computer hardware firm with laboratories in Israel and Russia. Yaakov was portrayed by friends last week as a “naive old man” who may have behaved carelessly but would never have deliberately betrayed his country.
A spokesman for the US State Department said Yaakov would be entitled to US consular assistance, but had so far not applied for it. Yaakov’s friends described the case as a “Kafkaesque” example of Israeli “paranoia.”
The newspaper claims that ever since Mordechai Vanunu, an Israeli technician, leaked details of the country’s nuclear program to the “Sunday Times” in 1986, the government has gone to extraordinary lengths to stifle discussion of nuclear issues.
Yaakov is believed to have been closely involved in the nuclear program, both in his military role and as the former chief scientist at the Ministry of Industry and Trade. It is unclear from the report when or where he met the Russian woman, or why the authorities have taken such an interest in her.
The report stated that Yaakov resigned as chairman of Constellation 3D Inc (C3D) last year. The company, based in New York and with an R&D center in Israel, develops advanced optical data storage products. Shortly after leaving the company, Yaakov cashed in more than $1 million worth of shares.
The company’s chief counsel Craig Weiner told the newspaper, “Yaakov resigned because of a difference of vision – he’s from the old school and we’re a new technology company.” The report stated that Yaakov’s friends find it hard to imagine that a 75 year old who has not been associated with military secrets since the 1970s could have compromised national security now.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on 22 April, 2001