In an April 8 report, confirmed by Israeli sources, Maariv said the
administration of President Barack Obama has prevented the entry of
employees from Israel's Nuclear Research Center. The newspaper said this
reversed a longtime policy whereby the Israeli scientists had been allowed
to attend seminars in the United States, Middle East Newsline reported.
"They [Dimona employees] also complain of being treated in an insulting
manner by Obama's people," the newspaper said.
Israeli academics said the U.S. policy also included a ban on sales to
Dimona, which has not come under the inspection of the International Atomic
Energy Agency. They said even simple equipment, such as radiation detectors,
were bought in France because of the U.S. policy.
"The United States doesn't sell anything nuclear-related to the Dimona
reactor, and that means absolutely nothing," Professor Zev Alfasi, head of
the nuclear engineering department at Ben-Gurion University, said. "They
sell to universities, but they refuse to sell these same items of equipment
to the Nuclear Research Center. I do not know whether they will sell Iran
the same items that they refuse to sell us."
