Israeli PM Involved in Nuclear Smuggling

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was involved in smuggling nuclear triggers out of the United States carried out by a network of front companies, a report says.

According to a Wednesday article posted on antiwar.com, the FBI partially declassified and released additional pages from a 1985-2002 investigation into how a network of front companies connected to the Israeli Ministry for Military Affairs illegally smuggled triggers used for nuclear weapons (krytrons) out of the United States.

The FBI investigation reveals that Netanyahu worked at Heli Trading Company, the Israeli node of the network during the smuggling operations.

The Israeli premier was in contact with Richard Kelly Smyth, who at the time was president of the MILCO International Inc., a front company for the Israel-based Heli Trading Company, then owned by Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan. 

In April 2002, Smyth was sentenced to 40 months in prison and fined 20,000 dollars for trafficking krytrons, tiny electronic devices that are used in high-speed photography, strobe lighting and photocopying machines, but can also be used in nuclear triggers. 

Smyth was also indicted for selling about 800 krytrons to Heli Trading Company (also known as Milchan Limited). 
“Smyth and [Netanyahu] would meet in restaurants in Tel Aviv and in [Netanyahu’s] home and/or business. It was not uncommon for [Netanyahu] to ask Smyth for unclassified material,” the FBI report said.

In March, the co-authors of the book Confidential: The Life of Secret Agent Turned Hollywood Tycoon Arnon Milchan issued a statement saying, “Hollywood mega-producer and former secret agent Arnon Milchan has been asked directly by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres to avoid any public discussion of the book Confidential, asserting that the matter is too sensitive at this time.”