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February 3, 1999 Defense Ministry Response to Washington Times Article
(Communicated by Defense Ministry Spokesman) The Defense Ministry wishes to clarify that the allegations published in
the Washington Times on 27.1.99, according to which Israelis involved in
the development of the Nautilus weapons system which employs lasers in
the intercept of Katyusha missiles are transferring secret data to
China, are completely baseless. Israel has never shared classified American technology passed during joint
US-Israeli efforts to develop a laser-based weapons system, and no Israeli
personnel have tried to obtain restricted information from American
contractors involved in the Nautilus project. All Israeli activities have
been conducted in precise conformity with the relevant agreements,
including those governing project security and delineating the extent of
cooperative efforts with the United States in the Nautilus program. All inferences that Israel has circumvented the terms of its agreement
with the United States are unfounded. Furthermore, in Israel's view, it
would be appropriate for the American sources cited by the Washington
Times to publicly refute the charges levelled against Israel by the
newspaper.
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