TEL AVIV, May 16 — A newspaper item indicating that the reputed underworld figure from the United States, Meyer Lansky, has an interest in Israel's leading hotel chain resulted this weekend in a threat of a $285,000 libel suit.

Samuel Federman, general manager of the Dan Hotels Corporation Limited, said in an interview today that the board of directors would consider filing the suit against Haaretz, Israel's leading daily newspaper.

Haaretz on Friday ran a review of a book called “Lansky” by Hank Messick. The headline said “Jews control crime in the United States” and a subheading said “Book reveals: Meyer Lansky invested in Dan (Tel Aviv and Haifa) and in Accadia.”

The paper also ran a news item stating that the owner of the hotel chain denied the report.