Israel continues to keep silent concerning the spy ring charged on Monday with recruiting agents in Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon to spy for Israel. An official Israeli source declined to give comment to Israeli Radio (Israel Broadcasting Authority). Egyptian authorities on Monday charged Tarek Hassan, a local businessman arrested in August, with harming the country's national interests. The two Israelis were charged in absentia. Prosecutor Hisham Badawi told reporters that Hassan allegedly received $7,500 dollars to search for potential agents working for telecommunication companies in the three countries that could spy for Israel. The radio said that "an Israeli official declined to comment on the news coming from Cairo about the disclosure of spy ring for Israel in Egypt." Major Israeli papers websites such as Ynetnews and Haaretz reported the story without citing any Israeli official. Earlier Associated Press quoted Yigal Palmor of the Israeli Foreign Ministry as denying knowledge of the case, saying "We are not familiar with the charges." "We will have to look into it in order to understand what this is all about," added Palmor, according to AP.
