"The events go back to the early 1980s. Since 1985 there have been clear orders from (Israel's) prime ministers not to conduct these kind of activities," foreign ministry spokesman Arye Mekel said.

"Relations between the United States and Israel have always been based on true friendship and mutual values and interests," he added.

On Tuesday the US authorities announced the arrest of army veteran Ben-Ami Kadish, 84, on charges that he disclosed secret defence information, including on nuclear weapons, to Israel between 1979 and 1985.

Kadish, who worked as a mechanical engineer at a US army weapons centre in New Jersey, provided classified documents to Israel's consul for science affairs in New York, the Justice Department said.

The case has been linked to the 1980s Jonathan Pollard spy scandal which rocked US-Israeli relations.

Pollard was an intelligence analyst for the Navy department who passed thousands of documents to Israel in 1984 and 1985. He is serving a life term after being convicted of spying.

Another potential spy scandal is "a momentary embarrassment, but it will not harm the privileged relations between Israel and the United States," a government official told AFP, asking not to be named.

"Neither of the two countries has any interest in poisoning things," the official said, adding that US President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice were both due to visit Israel at the beginning of May.

"Their wish is to facilitate an Israeli-Palestinian accord before the end of Bush's mandate and a crisis would only compromise this project," the official added.

Washington registered its concern over the affair with its main Middle East ally.

"We would expect that Israel would not be engaged in such activities," said Tom Casey, a US State Department spokesman.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office, which is responsible for the Mossad intelligence service, declined to comment.

Mekel also said the Israeli authorities were first informed of the affair through the US media.

"Then we received on Tuesday evening formal notification from the United States about the legal proceedings, which was delivered through our embassy in Washington," Mekel said.

Tzahi Hanegbi, who heads the Israeli parliament's defence and foreign affairs committee, insisted in an interview with public radio that Israel fully respected its commitment "not to conduct espionage activities in the United States since the Pollard affair."

The government publicly admitted in 1998 that Pollard had been an agent acting on its behalf and awarded him Israeli citizenship.

"What apparently is irritating the Americans is that we had told them Pollard was our only agent, and this new affair could raise questions," said former Mossad boss Danny Yatom, now a member of parliament.

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