An Israeli Connection?

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When NBC Nightly News reported last week that Israel had armed one-quarter of the rebel army, Israeli Foreign Ministry Spokesman Yosef Amihood dismissed the account as "utterly ridiculous." But Edgar Chamorro, a director of the Honduras-based Nicaraguan Democratic Force (F.D.N.), the largest contra group, told TIME that his rebels received about 2,000 weapons from the Israelis last October. He emphasized that this was a onetime shipment. It was channeled through a private arms dealer, and consisted mostly of Soviet AK-47s captured from the P.L.O. during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. TIME has learned that Israel funnels arms to the contras through the Honduran army. Israeli intelligence experts have helped the CIA train the contras, and retired or reserve Israeli army commandos have been hired by shadowy private firms to assist the rebels. "The Israelis," says a U.S. intelligence expert, "know how to run a secret operation."

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