Lieberman threatens to sue Associated Press

In letter to news agency, FM demands apology for 'false' report suggesting he was denied access to intelligence information during his stint as minister of strategic affairs

Ynet|Published: 11.13.11 , 13:58

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is threatening to sue the Associated Press news agency over a report claiming he was denied access to intelligence information during his stint as minister of strategic affairs in 2006-2009.

A letter sent on Lieberman's behalf by Attorney Yaron Kostlitz claims the report is false and threatens to file a libel suit if a retraction and an apology are not issued. "The reports are utter nonsense and there is a reason that then prime minister Ehud Olmert denied them," the letter stated.

An AP report released Saturday quotes an Israeli official as saying that Lieberman had not been given full access to secret information while he was minister of strategic affairs from October 2006 to January 2008.

The official said that did not mean Lieberman was under any particular suspicion.

The official did not know whether Lieberman's security clearance was upgraded in 2009, when he became foreign minister in the current government.