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Last update - 08:07 15/04/2008 Double agent enabled Israel's capture of top-ranked Soviet spy Klingberg By Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent Tags: Nes Tziona, Israel  A Soviet spy-turned-double agent led to the 1983 arrest of Professor Avraham Marcus Klingberg, the highest-ranking Soviet spy ever caught by Israel. The military censor allowed on Monday the publication of this incident, which had been previously suppressed for security reasons. In lifting its gag order on the matter, which had been in effect for years, the censor declined to comment on the circumstances that led to its decision. Klingberg, who was the deputy head of the top-secret Israel Institute for Biological Research in Nes Tziona, immigrated to Israel in late 1948. Before immigrating to Israel, he had served and been wounded as a soldier in the Red Army during World War II. Klingberg initially told his Israeli interrogators that he began working as a Soviet spy in 1957, after being blackmailed by a Soviet operative, but Israeli intelligence believes he was already a Soviet agent when he moved to Israel. In his book published last year, he said he was first enlisted in the early 1950s by a pro-Soviet Israeli while at a rehabilitation center, healing from injuries sustained in a car crash. Advertisement In his memoir, Klingberg wrote that during his trial for espionage, he saw a note that had been accidentally left on his file by the prosecution. The note revealed he had been exposed by a double agent. The military censor deleted this reference from Klingberg's memoir. Klingberg was suspected of being a Soviet spy as early as 1963, but he was exculpated after passing a polygraph test. Further information received aroused suspicion over Klingberg, but after having failed once, Shin Bet officials were reluctant to act prematurely. The information from the double agent, received in 1983, was considered sufficient to prove Klingberg's complicity. After being interrogated at a secret location in Tel Aviv, Klingberg admitted he had been working for the Soviets. He was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in jail. After having served 16 years in prison, he was released to house arrest. In 2003, after the 20-year sentence was over, he was allowed to leave Israel and live with his daughter in Paris. Related articles: I spy The mistake that cost the country Not afraid to go all the way Times man: 'It's Vanunu's kidnap story that worries Israel' Bookmark to del.icio.us   Double agent U.S. arrests American over suspected nuclear espionage for Israel. Conspiracy theory Al-Qaida: Hezbollah started rumor that Israel planned 9/11   1.   But this Israeli government has no pity on its own 04:52  |  Jon 15/04/08   2.   jon 1 07:51  |  potobac 16/04/08   3.   double agent 10:14  |  Randall W Elkins 23/04/08

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