LEVIN IS LEADING CANDIDATE FOR MOSSAD CHIEF

ISRAEL LINE
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1998

  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly favors the Israel Defense
Forces OC Northern Command, Maj. Gen. Amiram Levin, to succeed Danny Yatom
as Mossad Chief, THE JERUSALEM POST reported.
  A senior security source said that Netanyahu spoke with Defense Minister
Yitzhak Mordechai on Thursday and expressed his preference for Levin.
Mordechai agreed that Levin could leave his current post to accept the job.
  Mordechai then met with Levin, who reportedly told the Defense Minister
that he would seriously consider accepting the post.
  Sources in the Prime Minister's Office said that while Netanyahu is
considering appointing Levin, he has yet to make a final decision.
 Meanwhile, Netanyahu met with three former Mossad chiefs, who recommended
that the Prime Minister appoint someone from outside the organization's ranks.
  HA'ARETZ reported that Swiss Federal Prosecutor Carla del Ponte held a
press conference in Bern on Thursday, and read a litany of charges against
the Mossad agent arrested last week.  She did not say if or when the
operative's case would be tried.
  Despite the grave charges, Israel and Switzerland are reportedly holding
quiet negotiations over the agent's release.





ISRAEL LINE