Considering the closeness of the two allies, the tactics seemed abrupt and heavy-handed. Twenty witnesses, including eight Israeli government purchasing agents, were hit with federal court subpoenas. U.S. Customs Service agents searched three American businesses. The Israeli Ambassador to Washington was summoned to the State Department, while in Jerusalem, the U.S. Ambassador hand-delivered a letter to Prime Minister Shimon Peres detailing the allegations: Israel was under investigation for illegally attempting to acquire U.S. machinery to manufacture cluster bombs, the deadly weapons that open in midair to spew out hundreds of dartlike bomblets. The U.S. prohibited the sale of cluster bombs to...
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