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* 6,554 Israeli accounts at HSBC worth $10 bln, report says
* Israeli minister says not surprised by amount
* Some Israelis defend accounts, say everything legal (Adds comments, detail, background)
By Steven Scheer and Tova Cohen
JERUSALEM, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Israel's tax authority said onThursday it was working to obtain the details of thousands ofIsraelis with accounts at the Swiss arm of HSBC, afterthe bank admitted failings that may have allowed some customersto evade taxes.
According to the International Consortium of InvestigativeJournalists (ICIJ), which this week coordinated the release ofleaked data from HSBC in Switzerland, Israel ranked sixth amongthe 203 countries whose citizens were customers, with 6,554Israelis holding accounts worth $10 billion.
"We have tried to receive the data from authorities. Wetried in various ways, direct and indirect, but we didn't getit," said Idit Lev-Zerahia, a spokeswoman for the Israel TaxAuthority. "We are now renewing our efforts."
Moshe Asher, the head of the authority, told the Globesfinancial newspaper he was rebuffed by French authorities whentrying to get the details but that the tax authority was"determined to obtain this list."
Having a Swiss bank account is not illegal in Israel, aslong as it is reported to authorities.
Israeli newspapers have reported that among Israelis on thelist were bank owners and directors, diamond and real estatemoguls, retired military officers, public and private companyheads, well-known lawyers, a "popular" TV presenter, artists,soccer players, sport agents, a retired judge and a formerprosecutor.
The tax authority has many other lists of people with bankaccounts in Switzerland, Lev-Zerahia said. In recent months,some 32 Israelis have been arrested over secret accounts worthtens of millions of dollars held at UBS inSwitzerland.
Israeli Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz said Israel haddo more to prevent Israelis "avoiding tax by shifting the moneyto some banks elsewhere."
"I am not surprised," Steinitz, who was finance ministeruntil 2013, said of the HSBC leak. "We always thought theillegal black economy in Israel is too big," he told Reuters.
A spokesman for Israeli billionaire Beny Steinmetz, who wasnamed in Israeli newspapers as having an account, said:"Steinmetz is a Swiss resident, pays taxes in strict accordancewith his agreement with the Swiss tax authorities and has alwaysmanaged his bank accounts in Switzerland in full compliance withall applicable laws and regulations."
Former Bank Hapoalim chairman Shlomo Nehama saidin an emailed statement to Reuters that at one point he hadabout $104 million in an HSBC account in Switzerland comprisedonly of funds derived from the sale of shares and options in acompany he owned.
"The gains from such sale and the income arising in theaccount were legally and legitimately obtained and were dulyreported to the Israeli tax authorities," he said.
Asher, the head of the tax authority, noted that since theleaked HSBC accounts were held between 1998 and 2007, it waspossible some had since been closed or transferred.
"Even if it takes time, and it will take time, we will reachevery account holder and more than that, nobody can be certaintheir account won't immediately come up for investigation," hetold Globes.
The tax authority is offering immunity from criminalprosecution for anyone who comes forward to report an accountabroad. (Additional reporting by Ori Lewis and Maayan Lubell; Editingby Mark Potter)
