Ben-Ami Kadish, Spy for Israel, Dies at 85
Ben-Ami Kadish, a former civilian employee of the U.S. Army who was arrested at the age of 85 for spying for Israel, has died.
No date of death or cause of death was made public, according to the New Jersey Jewish News, citing a funeral home death notice.
Kadish, a former U.S. Army mechanical engineer, was arrested in December 2008 for passing classified documents between 1980 and 1985 to an Israeli agent, reportedly the same handler as Jonathan Pollard.
He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and was sentenced in mid-2009, at the age of 85, to pay a $50,000 fine.
“I’m sorry I made a mistake,” Kadish said before sentencing. “It was a misjudgment. I thought I was helping the State of Israel without harming the United States.”
Kadish was born in Connecticut and moved to what was then Palestine. He returned to the United States after World War II. He was employed by the army for 27 years after serving in the U.S. Air Force and had security clearance.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news. All donations are still being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000 until April 24.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
