JERUSALEM, July 19 (UPI) -- Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan operated as an intelligence agent for Israel and supplied information for Israel's secret nuclear program, a book alleges.
"Confidential: The Life of Secret Agent Turned Hollywood Tycoon Arnon Milchan," due to be released at the end of the month, says Milchan was recruited in the 1960s by Israeli President Shimon Peres, then deputy defense minister, to Lakam, a now disbanded, top-secret Israeli intelligence agency that specialized in gathering scientific and technology information for Israel's alleged nuclear program.
The book, described as an unofficial biography written by Milchan brothers-in-law Meir Doron and Joseph Gelman, says Milchan's well-placed connections to the top echelon in Israel and the United States also helped him become a successful arms dealer, The Jerusalem Post said Tuesday.
Milchan, 66, met with the authors, answering their questions and correcting their mistakes, but one of the main sources for the book was Peres, Haaretz said.
"I am the one who recruited him," Peres is quoted as saying regarding Milchan's role as an agent for Lakam (Scientific Liaison Bureau), which was disbanded in the late 1980s.
Their relationship continued into the 1970s when Peres became defense minister, Haaretz said.
