JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Israel is worried that Cuban President Fidel
                  Castro may stop 200 Cuban Jews from moving to the Jewish state after a
                  newspaper uncovered the secret emigration program, an Israeli official said
                  Monday.

                  The official, who declined to be identified, said 400 Cuban Jews had already
                  moved to Israel in a covert operation approved by Castro, and were living in
                  the southern Israeli coastal town of Ashkelon.

                  But 200 others who had signed up to leave Cuba could be stopped because
                  the operation had lost its cloak of secrecy with the report in London's
                  Sunday Telegraph, the official said. Israel fears Castro may prevent overt
                  emigration on grounds it would undermine Cuba's image.

                  "We are very disturbed about the coverage that is being given because it
                  could endanger the 200 people who still want to come to Israel. Castro
                  knows who they are," the official said.

                  He added Castro had allowed the Jews, mostly youths from Havana, to
                  leave on condition they went to Israel and not to the United States.

                  The agency that helps bring Jews to Israel declined to comment.

                  The once 12,000-strong Cuban Jewish community has dwindled to 1,000
                  because of emigration and assimilation since the 1959 revolution.