A convicted spy has revealed for the first time that he recruited another senior Israeli academic to spy for the Soviet intelligence services, a newspaper reported on Friday.
Professor Marcus Klingberg made the revelation in his memoirs without revealing the name of the scientist he recruited to work for the Russians during the Cold War, the top-selling Yediot Aharonot said.
His recruit was awarded the prestigious Israel Prize for excellence in his field and served the Russians until his death a few years ago, it said. The memoirs, which will soon be published, will apparently not cite the name of Klingberg's recruit, so as not to harm to his family members.
Yediot Aharonot said Klingberg's recruit used to travel to scientific conferences in the Soviet Union and was always summoned for a security briefing by the homeland Shin Beth agency, which never realised he was an agent.
Klingberg was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 1983 after being convicted of passing secrets to the former Soviet Union while deputy director of the top secret Israel Institute for Biological Research and a lieutenant colonel. He subsequently served 15 years in prison and five years under house arrest, before he moved to France.