JERSUALEM, Aug. 29 (Xinhuanet) -- Israel has described suspected espionage as "internal US political story" aiming to slander US President George W. Bush before elections, Israel Radio reported Sunday.

    "This is an American political story, an election story, a pre-convention story to try to slander and criticize US President George W. Bush. It has nothing to do with us," an Israeli security source was quoted as saying in Jerusalem.

    Larry Franklin, the alleged Pentagon "mole" under investigation for passing classified material to Israel, did in fact have work ties with Jerusalem, but declared that the relationship did not go beyond standard diplomatic contact, said the report.The Franklin story, which broke on the eve of the Republican National Convention in New York, comes amid an attempt over the last few months to attack Bush, the report added.

    The American TV network CBS reported Friday that the FBI has been conducting an ongoing investigation and is convinced that an official in the Pentagon has conveyed highly sensitive information to the Israeli government via two representatives of the AmericanIsrael Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

    The network said that the mole, whom it described as a "trusted analyst of the Pentagon", passed on "secret White Housede liberations on Iran" to Israel last year.

    Israel denied involvement in the affairs afterwards.A statement from the Prime Minister's Office released Saturday night said the government was not aware of the incident, adding that "Israel is not employing any intelligence assets in the United States".

    Israel's Knesset (parliament) Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuval Steinitz said Israel have decided to halt all espionage activities against the United States since the arrest of American naval analyst Jonathan Pollard for passing on secretsto Israel in 1985.

    "Following the Pollard crisis 20 years ago, there was a decision not to spy against the US government or its subsidiaries, and I am confident that this is still the case," Steinitz said.

    Despite Israel's deep concern about Iran's nuclear program, it would not be tempted to break that ban, he stressed."Israel is very concerned... that the ayatollahs will acquire nuclear weapons," Steinitz said. "But if you think this mightchange our previous decision not to spy on the US, the answer is no." Enditem