We had Kadish, then all of a sudden out pops this Talansky story. my guess is the Talansky odor is supposed to mask the Kadish stink, and what either has to do with Rosen and Weissman, or 9/11 for that matter, is anyone's guess... Here's some reading...

Lots of speculation regarding Kadish arrest rationale
By RON KAMPEAS JTA
http://www.jewishvoicesnj.org/news/2008/0507/home/003.html

Alleged spy BEN-AMI KADISH

WASHINGTON- Is it connected to the classifiedinformation case against two former AIPAC staffers? A bid to pressure Israel to concede more to the Palestinians ahead of a new round of peace talks? Connected to the murky circumstances of Israel's mysterious airstrike in Syria last September? For now, the main question surrounding the case of Ben- Ami Kadish, the octogenarian New Jersey man arrested this week for allegedly sharing classified information with Israel decades ago is: Why now?

The charges against Kadish are serious. He is accused of having shared with his Israeli handler U.S. nuclear secrets, plans for combat aircraft improvements and missile defense information.

But they should be way past their due date: The statute of limitations on the charges is 10 years, unless they incur the death penalty. Prosecutors have yet to say whether or not they intend to pursue the death penalty against Kadish, who has not been indicted.

Some Jewish community leaders are asking whether Kadish's arrest is part of an attempt by federal agents to influence the outcome of the classified-information case against two former senior staffers for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman.

Focus Turns to Long Island Philanthropist as Israeli Prime Minister Is Investigated
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/07/world/middleeast/07olmert.html

By ALISON LEIGH COWAN
Published: May 7, 2008
A Long Island philanthropist and fund-raiser for Israeli charities is at the center of a growing storm surrounding Israel’s prime minister, Ehud Olmert, that has riveted and agitated Israel despite a veil of secrecy over the continuing investigation.

The philanthropist, Morris Talansky, 75, was apparently approached last month by the Israeli authorities when he arrived at the Tel Aviv airport to spend Passover with his daughter and son, who live in Jerusalem. It is unclear whether Mr. Talansky, who has yet to return from Israel, is only a witness or also a suspect in the case.

Israeli prosecutors asked a Jerusalem court on Tuesday for permission to take testimony from a foreign man, widely understood to be Mr. Talansky, even though prosecutors have yet to file any charges in the matter. Their inquiry appears to center on suspicion of bribery or campaign finance irregularities involving Mr. Olmert in or around 1999. At that time, Mr. Olmert was mayor of Jerusalem and was running against Ariel Sharon for the leadership of the Likud Party.

The police have imposed a strict order forbidding publication of information about the case in Israel. Mr. Talansky’s name and nationality have not been made public, but details of the investigation have circulated among politicians and journalists there in recent days. The New York Post published his name on Tuesday, leading Israeli radio announcers to tell listeners to go to the newspaper’s Web site without saying why.

Spy Satellite Lands Israel in U.S. Court
BY DAVID POMERANTZ - Special to the Sun
July 13, 2007
URL: http://www2.nysun.com/article/58352

Investors in an Israeli satellite company are asking an American judge to punish the company for refusing to provide access to the spacecraft and their sensitive imagery to the Venezuelan strongman, Hugo Chavez, who is an ally of Israel's enemy Iran.

At issue is a leading satellite imagery company, jointly owned by private investors and an Israeli government-run defense manufacturer. The company, called ImageSat, rents out spy satellites to foreign countries that don't have their own.

The investors claim that the Israeli-owned part of the company is killing off several profitable contracts because of diplomatic considerations. For example, the suit says that the Israeli Ministry of Defense pressured the company to renege on a multimillion-dollar contract with Venezuela.

President Chavez has forged an alliance with Iran in recent years, to the consternation of both America and Israel.

The suit also claims that the venture canceled a contract with Angola so that it could sell to South Africa, historically another Israeli ally. Politics got in the way of business with Russia and Taiwan as well, the suit claims.

As the suit moves forward, it could disclose back-channel communications between Israel and America.

The nine investors who brought the suit are mostly American and Israeli, and many of them were founding partners of ImageSat. The Americans are Stephen M. Wilson, Michael Morris, Joel Levine, Morris Talansky and Abraham Moshel. The Israeli investors are Moshe Bar-Lev, Patrick Rosenbaum and Haim Yifrah. A Canadian, Albert Reichmann, is another investor listed.

They are suing for more than $6 billion in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan before Judge Laura Taylor Swain. Ira Matetsky of Ganfer & Shore filed the suit on behalf of the plaintiffs. An initial court date is set for October 12.

In essence, the suit shows a rift between the private investors and the government-run defense company, Israel Aerospace Industries. The investors wanted the satellite company to be profitable. The defense manufacturer wanted it be patriotic, the suit claims.

Stephen Wilson, an American investor and the lead plaintiff in the case, founded ImageSat in 1994. At the time, Israel and its defense manufacturer were "desperately seeking new sources of financing for the Israeli military space program," so they signed on to the idea and accepted the fact that the company would have to be apolitical, the suit says.

From the very beginning, ImageSat's political independence was a "fundamental, indeed essential, element of its business plan," the suit says.

The only limit imposed by the Israeli Ministry of Defense was that ImageSat could not sell satellites to any country within 1,550 miles of Israel, a radius that includes nations that have fought wars against Israel, such as Lebanon and Syria. Israel also forbade ImageSat from selling to "rogue states" as defined by America and Israel, consisting of Cuba, Iran, and North Korea.

At first, Israel lived up to its promise to keep its hands off ImageSat, according to the suit. In 1998, to prove that ImageSat would be allowed to function independently, the Israeli Ministry of Defense issued licenses allowing ImageSat to sell to 60 countries, including Venezuela in 1998.

The Ministry of Defense even refused a request by the American government to suspend ImageSat's business with India after that country tested a nuclear weapon in 1998, according to the suit.

But after 2000, Israel Aerospace Industries deserted its hands-off approach and began steering the company according to Israel's geopolitical interests, the suit says.

Venezuela provides the most blatant example of political meddling described in the suit. Mr. Wilson began pitching a deal to the Venezuelan government in 1999 and even moved to the country in 2001. By 2002, he had convinced Caracas to rent spy satellites from ImageSat for a price of $18 million or more a year, the suit says.

But while Mr. Wilson was on vacation in 2002, Israel Aerospace Industries halted the deal, the suit alleges. The company convinced Mr. Wilson to delay his return to Caracas so that he wouldn't find out that the deal had been secretly killed, the suit says. Mr. Wilson says he only found out the truth when a Venezuelan Air Force general told him the story.

"Defendants were motivated by the deteriorating international relationship between the United States and Venezuela and Israel's desire to improve and maintain its historically good relations with the United States," the suit says.

A spokesman for Israel Aerospace Industries could not be reached for comment.

July 13, 2007 Edition > Section: New York > Printer-Friendly Version

An alternative perspective
Reader comment on: Spy Satellite Lands Israel in U.S. Court
Submitted by Steve Wilson, Nov 16, 2007 15:19

In fact, ImageSat's SOP program was a scrificial lamb in Venezuela, by a decision of ImageSat's board and management that were and remain controlled by IAI, Elbit, and their surrogate ImageSat managers. Today, as always since the imposition of U.S. sanctions, IAI and Elbit continue to promote, sell and deliver advanced military systems to Venezuela with the full knowledge of the Israeli AND U.S. governments, thinly concealing their circumvention of the U.S. arms embargo by delivering these systems through third party prime contractors (working for example Russia and Romania). Presumably everyone is already aware that the U.S. remains Venezuela's number one trading partner, providing most of the cash that is currently financing the Bolivarian Revolution. Although it now prohits the sale of military systems that are U.S. export controlled (which is not the case with respect to ImageSat satellites and services) the result is that Russian Sukoi 25 and 30, and possibly MIG 29 fighters, will replace aging and unmaintained U.S. F-16 and Mirage aircraft. The Russian aircraft will be outfitted with avionics and other advanced systems, primarily developed and supplied by IAI and Elbit, that the U.S. has long sought to prevent Venezuela from acquiring.

The central issue of this lawsuit, however, is whether or not a State owned company (like IAI, and its primary subcontractor in this case, Elbit) should be permitted to seek private capital financing as ImageSat did relentlessly and primarily in New York city between 1994 and 2000 (and as it succeeded in doing in an amount totalling roughly $120 million) to support the commercialization (and in this case the continuation) of its national defense programs and then subsequently reneg on commitments to its U.S. based private investors, thus far, with impunity.

In fact, Israel's space program is now wildly successful, responsible for billions of dollars in R&D support and new contracts for ongoing technology development and commercialization that were supposed to be the exclusive domain of ImageSat and ALL of its shareholders, rather than, as is the case today, for the sole benefit of the Israeli industrial defense establishment, including in particular IAI and Elbit.

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