vault backup: 2026-10-09 22:00:52

10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Menachem Begin.md

@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ Hersh wrote that in March 1979 President [[Jimmy Carter]] decided to give Israel
 
 The House October Surprise Task Force report of January 3, 1993 records the American-side documents on Israeli arms offers to Iran. On April 13, 1980 a high-level Israeli official told Carter in Washington that Israel had contacts in Iran that could help with the hostages if it were allowed to sell certain military equipment; Carter rejected the offer and obtained an assurance that Israel would observe the embargo, with Israel to advise the United States before changing its policy. On October 22, 1980 the Israelis told Ambassador Lewis that a deal for 200 tires for F-4 aircraft had been negotiated, and the State Department instructed the embassy to convey a message to Begin that the American government "recognize[d] the long-term significance" of an Israeli relationship with Iran but that Western allies prohibited exports to Iran while hostages were held. The Israeli government's own report to the task force stated that Begin raised the arms question with Carter and Secretary of State [[Edmund Muskie]] during his visit to the United States in November 1980, stressing that deliveries might help release the hostages, and that on November 21, 1980 he ordered that arms would not be supplied directly or indirectly to Iran until the hostages were released. On February 4, 1981 Begin told Lewis that future deliveries would use only Israeli equipment without United States components.[^11]
 
-Ben-Menashe's account differs. He wrote that Begin sent the emissary Ruth Ben-David, an old friend of the Ayatollah [[Ruhollah Khomeini]], to him in Paris in December 1978; that in April 1980 Begin gave "the green light for the sale to Iran of non-American military equipment," tires rather than technical parts, after which Carter telephoned Begin on April 27 to complain; that in September 1980 Begin sent Ben-David to Tehran to seek release of the hostages in exchange for Israeli arms guarantees; that in the fall of 1980 Begin ordered the military intelligence chief [[Yehoshua Sagi]] and the Mossad's acting director [[Nachum Admoni]] to create the [[Iran-Israel Joint Committee]]; and that Begin "had secretly reached in principle" a cooperation agreement with [[William J. Casey]] in August 1980.[^12] Ben-Menashe is the sole source for these passages. The House task force wrote that credible testimony and documents showed Ben-Menashe "to be totally lacking in credibility" on the Casey and Karrubi meetings, that [[Rafael Eitan]] and Saguy told the Israeli government they had never met him, and that his Israeli military file showed work as a translator; Ben-Menashe was acquitted in New York in November 1990 on charges of conspiring to sell Israeli-owned C-130 aircraft to Iran.[^13] The Mossad's own list of directors gives Yitzhak Hofi as head from 1974 to 1982 and Admoni from 1982.[^14]
+Ben-Menashe's account differs. He wrote that Begin sent the emissary Ruth Ben-David, an old friend of the Ayatollah [[Ruhollah Khomeini]], to him in Paris in December 1978; that in April 1980 Begin gave "the green light for the sale to Iran of non-American military equipment," tires rather than technical parts, after which Carter telephoned Begin on April 27 to complain; that in September 1980 Begin sent Ben-David to Tehran to seek release of the hostages in exchange for Israeli arms guarantees; that in the fall of 1980 Begin ordered the military intelligence chief [[Yehoshua Sagi]] and the Mossad's acting director [[Nachum Admoni]] to create the [[Iran-Israel Joint Committee]]; and that Begin "had secretly reached in principle" a cooperation agreement with [[William J. Casey]] in August 1980.[^12] The House task force wrote that credible testimony and documents showed Ben-Menashe "to be totally lacking in credibility" on the Casey and Karrubi meetings, that [[Rafael Eitan]] and Saguy told the Israeli government they had never met him, and that his Israeli military file showed work as a translator; Ben-Menashe was acquitted in New York in November 1990 on charges of conspiring to sell Israeli-owned C-130 aircraft to Iran.[^13] The Mossad's own list of directors gives Yitzhak Hofi as head from 1974 to 1982 and Admoni from 1982.[^14]
 
 ### Osirak