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.
Why I became the Forward’s editor-in-chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
— Alyssa Katz, editor-in-chief
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
