Ben-Ami Kadish, NJ retiree accused of spying for Israel, is dead
Ben-Ami Kadish, a former U.S. Army mechanical engineer who was 85 when he pleaded guilty to passing classified documents to the Israelis several decades ago, has died, according to a death notice provided by Mount Sinai Memorial Chapels in East Brunswick.
No date nor cause of death was given.
Kadish, who was born in Connecticut but raised in what was then Palestine, pleaded guilty in 2009 in federal court in Manhattan to one of the four conspiracy charges he originally faced. He avoided prison but was fined $50,000 over charges that he shared classified documents from the Picatinny Arsenal in Dover with an Israeli government agent in the early 1980s.
“I’m sorry I made a mistake,” Kadish told the judge before sentencing. “It was a misjudgment. I thought I was helping the state of Israel without harming the United States.”
Kadish fought in World War II with both the Americans and British and later served with the Hagana in Israel. He and his wife Doris were residents of the Ponds adult community in Monroe Township. He is survived by his wife, two sons, and one grandchild.
At the Ponds, Ben-Ami and his wife started the Yiddish Club, a discussion group, and a bridge club. He was an associate member of Hadassah and belonged to Congregation Beit Shalom of Concordia.
comments