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Did Aipac Shill for Jane Harman?

Monday, October 23rd, 2006

Looks like Aipac has gone and jumped into hot water again. It seems like only yesterday when Larry Franklin, Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman were front page news after it was discovered that Franklin shared information about U.S. policy toward Iran with the Aipac staffers under the watchful and supportive eye of a senior Israeli embassy officer. As an outgrowth of that investigation, Time Magazine reveals that the Justice Department and FBI are now investigating whether Harman enlisted the pro-Israel group to lobby House minority leader, Nancy Pelosi to reappoint the former to her current House Intelligence Committee post.

Jane Harman speaks to Phoenix Aipac event (credit: Mark Glucksman)

…FBI and Justice Department prosecutors…are examining whether Rep. Jane Harman of California and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) may have violated the law in a scheme to get Harman reappointed as the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, according to knowledgeable sources in and out of the U.S. government.

The sources tell TIME that the investigation by Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation…is examining whether Harman and AIPAC arranged for wealthy supporters to lobby House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi on Harman’s behalf.

The Post and Haaretz are of slightly different minds about the legal issues involved. First, Haaretz writes that:

Attempting to influence the outcome of the election of Congressional representatives to committees is a federal offense.

While the Post says this about one of the important lobbying calls made on Harman’s behalf by an Aipac donor:

A congressional source tells TIME that the lobbying for Harman has included a phone call several months ago from entertainment industry billionaire and major Democratic party contributor Haim Saban…A phone call pushing for a particular member’s committee assignment might be unwelcome, but it would not normally be illegal on its own.

The key phrase here is “on its own.” In other words, if Haim Saban made the call unsolicited by Aipac, then it would be kosher. If not, then possibly (or definitely?) it would be illegal according to the terms laid out by Haaretz. I’ve got news for you–anyone who believes that Haim Saban did this of his own volition and without prompting from anyone in Harman’s or Aipac’s offices is either a member of Harman’s immediate family or a card-carrying member of Aipac. The rest of us know better.

The probe is covering an even more troubling issue:

The sources say the probe also involves whether, in exchange for the help from AIPAC, Harman agreed to help try to persuade the Administration to go lighter on the AIPAC officials caught up in the ongoing investigation. If that happened, it might be construed as an illegal quid pro quo, depending on the context of the situation.

This sounds like a very difficult issue to prove in court. But if there’s even a hint of evidence that this might’ve happened, then Harman has doomed her chance to become chair of the House Intelligence Committee if the Dems become a majority. It never ceases to amaze me how powerful people don’t seem to recognize the fine line between assertiveness and overplaying one’s hand in the fine art of political gamesmanship. Pelosi clearly hated Harman’s pushiness and would be only too happy to replace her:

…Congressional sources say Pelosi has been infuriated by pressure from some major donors lobbying on behalf of Harman. In a story touching on tensions between Pelosi and Harman, an alternative California publication, LA Weekly, reported in May that Harman “had some major contributors call Pelosi to impress upon her the importance of keeping Jane in place. According to these members, this tactic, too, hasn’t endeared Harman to Pelosi.”

And lest you think it odd, out of character or improbable that Aipac would entertain such a request from Harman, consider what Aipac’s Steve Rosen offered to do on Larry Franklin’s behalf:

The Justice Department alleges in its indictment of Franklin that he asked one of the two AIPAC lobbyists to “put in a good word” for him in seeking assignment to the National Security Council. The document says the AIPAC official noted that such a job would put Franklin “by the elbow of the President” and said he would “do what I can.”

It’s the “I scratch your back, you scratch mine” world of D.C. scrounging, bowing and scraping. It makes one wonder what else a beholden member of Congress might be willing to do for Aipac and its enabler (or “handler” if you’re even more conspiratorial), the Israeli intelligence service Mosad.

Billmon wrote a good piece on this story a few days ago.

Tags: aipac-offer-to-lobby-on-behalf-of-jane-harman, aipac-spying-scandal, haaretz, larry-franklin, nancy-pelosi, time-magazine
Posted in Mideast Peace | 2 Comments »

AIPAC Spying Trial to Begin in April

Sunday, February 26th, 2006

I just wrote a post about AIPAC’s big annual bash, better known as the AIPAC Policy Conference, that begins March 5th in D.C. They’ll bring 5-6,000 of their biggest fat-cat boosters to D.C. to hobnob with fawning members of Congress eager for campaign largess. The prime rib of red meat for this conference will be AIPAC’s proposed Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act (H.R. 4681), which will draw the noose ever tighter around Palestinian necks in a vain effort to destroy Hamas and the PA. Speaking of red meat, Dick Cheney will be the “Special Guest” for the Closing Session.

Steve Rosen, fired number 2 AIPAC staffer (photo: Jewish Week)

One of my deep background confidants who’s been known to frequent some of the same haunts as aforesaid AIPACniks points me to an even more important calendar date. Sometime in late April, the trial of Keith Weissman and Steve Rosen will begin. They’re the fellows accused of inducing Pentagon analyst, Larry Franklin to provide secret U.S. intelligence about Iran to an Israeli embassy officer. In other words, they’re spies (oops, ‘alleged’ spies). If not spies, then they were aiding and abetting.

AIPAC wants you to forget all about its connection to this heinous incident. That’s why it wants the Policy Conference to be as big a barnstormer as can be–in order to inoculate themselves from the toxin of the trial. But, as the Forward notes, it may not work:

Defense attorneys will try to establish that the men were following the organization’s routine practice and that Aipac’s top officials were fully aware of their actions. “The evidence in this case will show that Dr. Rosen and Mr. Weissman always acted in Aipac’s interests, never were on their own and acted with the knowledge and approval of their superiors,” Rosen’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, told the Forward.

…Defense attorneys are expected to argue that receiving information from administration officials was something the two were paid and encouraged to do, and something Aipac routinely does — as do many other lobbying groups in Washington.

…“It is very possible” that attorneys for Rosen and Weissman will call senior Aipac officials to testify in court, sources familiar with the case told the Forward. Such testimony would undoubtedly be embarrassing to Aipac, according to several sources familiar with the case.

…The defense’s intention to bring Aipac into the courtroom — both physically and figuratively — is causing concern and resentment within the organization, sources close to Aipac said.

As far as AIPAC’s concerned, Rosen and Weissman were rogue staffers with a personal mission to assist Israeli intelligence. AIPAC didn’t put them up to it. AIPAC doesn’t endorse what they did. AIPAC fired them when it found out. Blah, blah, blah.

My confidant says “don’t you believe it.” S/He tells me that (at least in his informed opinion) the government’s “got the goods” both on the staffers and AIPAC. S/He’s hoping for a “hanging judge and jury.” Can’t say as I blame him/her.

This Jewish Week article raises serious doubts about how much separation AIPAC really has from Rosen. JTA published this February 2nd piece about the federal judge, T.S. Ellis III, who quadrupled Larry Franklin’s recommended sentence from four to twelve years. Apparently, Ellis has warned Rosen, Weissman and any other civilians to whom they may’ve passed information that they may be as culpable as Franklin even though they are civilians (not government employees).

Be prepared too for a full frontal attack on Paul McNulty, the federal prosecutor trying the case. Just a matter of time before we hear Malcolm Hoenlein and his ilk accusing him of anti-Semitism and attempting to damage the reputation of the entire Jewish community in the eyes of the word, etc.

Justin Raimondo attempts to place this spying scandal in the context of what he sees as AIPAC (and hence, Israeli) infiltration of the higest level of the Pentagon in the persons of Douglas Feith, Paul Wolfowitz and others connected with AIPAC’s think tank, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Read my past posts about AIPAC and the spying scandal.

Tags: AIPAC-policy-conference, israel, israel-spying, keith-weissman, larry-franklin, steve-rosen
Posted in Mideast Peace | No Comments »

Israel Accused of Running Spy at Highest Pentagon Levels

Friday, August 27th, 2004

(credit: CBS/AP)

CBS News broadcast a bombshell on tonight’s Evening News (FBI Probes Pentagon Spy Case) with Dan Rather reporting that an official working with Douglas Feith, the number 3 Pentagon official under Don Rumsfeld, passed highly sensitive secret documents regarding U.S. policy toward Iran to staff of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, who in turned passed the documents to Israeli intelligence (see Pentagon Official Is Suspected of Giving Israel Secrets from today’s New York Times). If true, this would be a devestating development for all parties, agencies and governments concerned. The case raises all sorts of questions and alarm bells regarding U.S.-Israeli relations and U.S. relations with the Arab world.

The DOD is attempting to minimize the damage by saying the alleged spy was not in a policy-making position, so no need to worry:

“The investigation involves a single individual at D.O.D. at the desk officer level, who was not in a position to have significant influence over U.S. policy,” the statement continued. “Nor could a foreign power be in a position to influence U.S. policy through this individual.

But this begs the question–you don’t need to be in a “policy-making position” to cause enormous damage to U.S. interests.

Israel issued a flat out denial:

A spokesman for the Israeli Embassy, David Siegel, denied the accusations of espionage. “They are completely false and outrageous,” he said.

“The United States is Israel’s most cherished friend and ally,” Mr. Siegel said. “We have a strong ongoing relationship at all levels, and in no way would Israel do anything to impair this relationship.”

False and outrageous? Knowing the closeness of American-Israeli relations and the strength of AIPAC within the political establishment, do the Israelis really think that the Justice Department would have gone public with this without an ironclad case? Come on!

First, how could Don Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and Feith allow an Israeli agent to infiltrate the deepest recesses of the Pentagon? They’ve been investigating the case for a year. Just think how much longer it could’ve gone on before they detected it and what other secrets this individual might have revealed before he was suspected? Even without this potentially devestating scandal, Arabs and many others believed that these individuals toed a totally pro-Israel line in their policy considerations. What will they think now?

Next, what could the Israelis be thinking? Didn’t they receive enough of a black eye for running Jonathan Pollard within Navy Intelligence? The Times article even implies that there have been subsequent cases of Israeli spying within U.S. government agencies which have either not been pursued or prosecuted because of the sensitivity of the American-Israeli relationship:

Several officials said that a number of espionage investigations involving Israel had been dropped or suppressed in the past in the face of political pressure.

As an American Jew who wishes to see Israel living within a peaceful Mideast, I am deeply troubled and disgusted with Israel’s actions in this case.

On the one hand, you can argue that this is what nations do. They’ve been doing it since God knows when and they’ll continue doing it until the end of time or at least of nations. According to this perspective, Israel is doing what is right for its national interests. After all, Iran’s nuclear weapons program is of increasing concern to Israel and if it were to feel it needed to take military action against Iran, then it would certainly need all the intelligence it could get both about Iranian weapons programs and U.S. policy toward them.

But on the other hand, the amount of damage that a case like this can do not only the U.S.-Israeli relations, but to U.S. standing in the Arab world is catastrophic. As I said above, we’re already at the nadir in the eyes of Muslims. How much lower can we go? I guess we’ll find out as this case works itself out.

U.S. Midest policy is seen not only among Arabs, but among many others throughout the world as either in Israel’s pocket or totally ineffectual. Now, everyone who feels this way will say that U.S. policy has been rendered so ineffectual by the work of an Israeli spy (or spies) within the U.S. government’s highest echelons. Who can blame them for feeling this way?

Finally, what does this scandal do to the standing of AIPAC both on the Hill and within the American Jewish community? AIPAC is a Goliath when it comes to influencing U.S. policy toward Israel. It has the almost universal support of the American Jewish community and most U.S. political leaders march in lock step with its policies. Personally, I believe that AIPAC has an absolutely toxic affect on U.S.-Israel relations because it suffocates discussion of a wide range of issues in a dispassionate and open-handed way. In AIPAC’s world, there is only one way of thinking about Israel and that is their way. If you break out of lockstep you will pay a price.

I have written here critically about AIPAC:
AIPAC: We Support the Road Map. Or Do We?
AIPAC & the Road Map: Undermining Bush Policy

What did I get for my troubles? An unsolicited copy of one of their press releases which “proved” that they did indeed support the Road Map. They sent the press release to my home and did not enclose any note that would indicate who sent it. I thought it was incredibly smarmy for an organization to send an unsolicited document to someone’s private home. But that’s what AIPAC does. Anything is justified in pursuit of what they view as Israel’s interests.

I wonder whether AIPAC will pay a price for the behavior of the two employees who allegedly passed on the information to Israel. Will members of Congress continue to pay obeisance to AIPAC? Will George Bush continue to run all of his major Mideast initiatives (such as they are) past AIPAC? Will AIPAC itself do a “cheshbon nefesh” (internal accounting) and reconsider the role that it and its employees played? My answers to all these questions are profoundly doubtful. I’m afraid that after a few months everything will return to normal, just as after the Pollard affair. American Jews will even begin organizing to demand the release of the Pentagon spy by saying he/she was a ‘Jewish patriot.’ Nothing will have changed.

Tags: aipac-spying, israeli-spy, larry-franklin, pentagon-spy-scandal
Posted in Mideast Peace, Politics & Society | 1 Comment »