csua.org/u/68c -> www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,8841987%255E2703,00.html
What interests the Israel defence forces is whether he began to gather military information before he left, intending to sell it to Hezbollah. That suggestion stems from Tennenbaums relations with an Israeli Arab, Keis Obeid, who became a Hezbollah agent before fleeing to Lebanon, and from Tennenbaums financial problems, reportedly due to gambling losses. Tennenbaum has testified that he flew from Israel to Belgium three years ago where Obeid gave him a false passport to fly to Dubai. There he was assaulted and drugged when he went to a villa to discuss a drug deal. When he regained consciousness he was in Lebanon, reportedly having been transported in a trunk. Interrogators want to know whether that is true or whether he may have flown willingly to Lebanon. Tennenbaum has said he revealed insignificant information about his military background. He has denied giving information about the secret project, Haaretz said. He said he was not physically tortured but had been aggressively interrogated for four months. If the polygraph tests show Tennenbaums testimony is truthful, officials said his incarceration in Lebanon would be reckoned as sufficient punishment for the drug deal and flying to an Arab country without permission. If the tests indicate he is lying, or if Tennenbaum had intended to pass information to Hezbollah beforehand, he will be transferred to a Shin Bet secret services facility for aggressive interrogation. There has been no indication of what secret information Tennenbaum was privy to. But as a reserve officer he spent an unusually long period of time on active service reportedly 200 days a year. A former head of Israeli military intelligence said last month that Tennenbaum had served under him.
|