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‘Captain’ Rosen’s J’Accuse!

Friday, May 8th, 2009

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry over this one. But the sheer volume of self-justifying bullshit in Steve Rosen’s interview with the Jerusalem Post is mind-boggling:

Rosen compared himself to Alfred Dreyfus, who was unjustly tried for treason by France.

“Poor Dreyfus – he had no defense, he had no ability to fight. It was a secret trial. Our judge didn’t agree to a secret trial. They tried, they tried to make it a Dreyfus trial, but he said, ‘No. I’m not having a secret trial, we’re going to have an open trial,’”

What poor Steve forgets is that the greatest cultural figures of his day came to Dreyfus’ defense including Emile Zola, who penned the remarkable J’Accuse. They researched the case, forced the government to retry Dreyfus and vindicated him through the legal process. Who came to Steve’s defense? Who or what legal process proved his innocence? Malcolm Hoenlein? Abbe Lowell?

…”I was a person, you see, who worked with government officials every day for 23 years. That week, every week, I would meet with people in the State Department, the National Security Council, the Defense Department, other agencies in the government. They were my friends, they knew very well that I spoke to the embassy of Israel. It wasn’t a surprise to them; they also spoke to the embassy,” he said.

“But these people we’re talking about viewed it as if we were a nest of spies, as if we were doing something against America,” Rosen continued.

Gee, I have no idea why they might think that. Do you? What Steve leaves out is that he wasn’t only meeting with Israeli diplomats (who, by the way have been known also to serve the Mossad), he met with Israeli intelligence as well. That’s something that most government officials don’t have the pleasure of doing.

The following especially tickles me since I, for one, have no doubt that Rosen escaped by the skin of his teeth. If there HAD been a trial, the whole seamy, sordid mess would’ve been exposed to the light of day. The fact that the judge allowed the defense to make a circus by calling every government official and their brother to testify, unfortunately put the kibosh to the prosecution. So the fact that he claims he welcomed a trial is sheer bravado:

While he expressed relief that the saga was over, Rosen noted that “we didn’t really have a trial, and in some ways it’s too bad we didn’t, because all the facts would’ve come out, and what it would’ve shown is that I did nothing wrong. Those that did something wrong were the people that brought this case; not just that they were incorrect, but that the attitude they had about Jews, Israel, AIPAC was completely false.”

Unfortunately, he said, “a lot of that nonsense is still out there. You can go on the Internet and see hundreds of stories. They talk about spies, and they see the Mossad under every desk.”

Rosen is nothing but a cheap spy. And the hallmark of such an Israeli agent of influence is to play the anti-Semitism card:

Rosen also expressed his belief that then-president George W. Bush was not at all responsible for the case, but that it was “a faction in the bureaucracy who had this belief.”

“They have materials against other people at AIPAC,” he continued. “They have material about people at other Jewish organizations. These guys are still there in the bureaucracy. They still believe that Jews are more loyal to
Israel than to America. They still believe that there are Jewish spies under every bed. And they may find another opportunity to bring another case against someone, and that’s the problem.”

You can be damn sure that the FBI has material about other enablers of Israel at Aipac and other Israel lobby groups just as Rosen says. Who better to know who his fellow collaborators are? Rosen also confirms what I wrote yesterday: that there are Rosens to come. For every one the feds catch there are 10 or 20 out there doing their best on behalf of their good friends within Israel’s intelligence apparatus.

I for one have no doubt that Steve Rosen’s loyalties are primarily to Israel. Though of course he sees no separation between Israel’s and America’s interests, which is how he can justify his conduct to himself and the world. Just to take but one example, Rosen would claim, as Aipac does, that Israel’s interest in destroying Iran’s nuclear capability and overthrowing the Iranian government is precisely the same as U.S. interest. But Americans don’t yet buy that, though they will if Israel’s perception management campaign here ginning up an Iran war succeeds.

Tags: captain alfred dreyfus, jaccuse, steve-rosen
Posted in Jews & Judaism, Mideast Peace, Politics & Society | 5 Comments »

Israel Lobby Smears Obama Intelligence Appointee

Wednesday, February 25th, 2009

JTA has launched the first salvo in the Jewish war against proposed Obama intelligence appointee, Chas. Freeman. Freeman is a friend of Obama intelligence chief, Adm. Dennis Blair, who asked the former to chair the National Intelligence Council. Freeman’s background as former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia and vocal critic of the Israeli Occupation renders him deeply suspect in the pro-Israel community.

JTA’s Ron Kampeas dredged up a highly dubious “expose” published by his newspaper in 2005 which purported to find hatred of Israel in many educational materials created by Arab groups and circulated for use in U.S. schools. Among them was a book funded by the Middle East Policy Council, chaired by Freeman.

Here is Kampeas’ lurid prose today inveighing against Freeman:

The Obama administration’s reported pick for a top intelligence post helped peddle a Saudi-funded school study guide decried by Jewish groups and educators for having anti-Jewish biases…

Freeman is president of the Middle East Policy Council, a Saudi-funded think tank. A JTA investigative series in 2005 exposed how the council, led by Freeman, joined with Berkeley, Calif.-based Arab World and Islamic Resources in peddling the “Arab World Studies Notebook” to American schools. In the version examined that year by JTA staff, the “Notebook” described Jerusalem as unequivocally “Arab,” deriding Jewish residence in the city as “settlement”; cast the “question of Jewish lobbying” against “the whole question of defining American interests and concerns”; and suggested that the Koran “synthesizes and perfects earlier revelations.”

Then I went back to the original 2005 story to see whether its claims were any better documented. They weren’t:

The “Arab World Studies Notebook” is…billed by its creators as an important tool to correct misperceptions about Islam and the Arab world, the manual for secondary schools has been blasted by critics for distorting history and propagating bias.

…The…publication was created as the joint project of two organizations – both of which receive Saudi funding.

Some of the references are subtle, say critics, making them all the more harmful. For example, the manual:

• Denigrates the Jews’ historical connection to Jerusalem. One passage, describing the Old City, says that “the Jerusalem that most people envisage when they think of the ancient city is Arab. Surrounding it are ubiquitous high-rises built for Israeli settlers to strengthen Israeli control over the holy city.”

• Suggests that Jews have undue influence on U.S. foreign policy. Referring to Harry S. Truman’s support of [Israel] it says: “Truman’s decision to push the U.N. decision to partition Palestine ended in the creation of Israel. The questions of Jewish lobbying and its impact on Truman’s decision with regard to American recognition – and indeed, the whole question of defining American interests and concerns – is well worth exploring.”

• Suggests that the Koran “synthesizes and perfects earlier revelations,” meaning those ascribed to by Christians and Jews.

• Leaves out any facts and figures about the State of Israel in its country-by-country section, but refers instead only to Palestine.

So here is the extent of the charges against the book that Freeman, as Kampeas would have you believe, personally peddled to impressionable American school children:

1. It correctly notes that much of Jerusalem’s Old City is Arab. Also notes that Jerusalem’s suburban communities across the Green Line are “settlements” and that those who live there are “settlers.” The JTA report would have you believe that the textbook is calling every Jewish resident of Jerusalem a “settler.” Considering that they have not provided enough context in their quote to know precisely what the text is specifically saying, I judge the reference to “ubiquitous high rises” to refer to newer Jerusalem neighborhoods across the Green Line, which are generally understood by everyone except Israel to be settlements.

2. Correctly suggests that lobbying by American Zionists had an effect on Truman’s decision to recognize Israel and that this subject is “well worth exploring.”

3. Correctly notes that Muslims see the Koran as “perfecting earlier revelations” of Christianity and Judaism, just as Jews see their religion as progressing from previous pagan religions common to ancient Israel.

4. Correctly notes that a textbook about the Arab Middle East doesn’t feature a great deal of information about Israel.

So what have we here? Where’s the smoking gun?

To his credit, the JTA reporter does quote a figure sympathetic to Freeman like M.J. Rosenberg. And I suppose I should be thankful that Freeman’s chief “accuser” in this story is none other than putative Aipac spy, Steve Rosen. I find it rich that Rosen in effect accuses Freeman of having “dual loyalty” to Saudi Arabia, when the U.S. government is currently accusing Rosen of stealing secret intelligence documents to give to Israel. One man’s dual loyalty is another’s filial duty to the Jewish state.

Among Freeman’s other offenses were to defend Walt-Mearsheimer’s The Israel Lobby, along with accepting $750,000 in Saudi funding for MEPC. Kampeas does note a fact previously reported by Politico’s Ben Smith–that pro-Israel analysts like Dennis Ross also work in a similarly partisan environment funded by heavily pro-Israel donors. Ross also worked for a think tank affiliated with the Jewish Agency for Israel, a quasi-government group.

So it seems that for Rosen and Freeman’s other detractors, what’s good for a goose like Ross isn’t for a gander like Freeman. Seems fair to me.

Tags: aipac spy, Arab World Studies Notebook, chas freeman, dennis blair, dual loyalty, national intelligence council, ron-kampeas, steve-rosen
Posted in Jews & Judaism, Mideast Peace, Politics & Society | 16 Comments »

Steve Rosen: ‘You Hate Me, You Really, Really Hate Me’

Friday, December 5th, 2008

I know a few of my readers will appreciate the dark humor of this:

You remember the Sally Fields ga-ga Academy Award speech: “You love me; you really, really love me.”

Well, Steve Rosen has done the reverse and managed to lump me together with M.J. Rosenberg and Justin Raimondo as “three who hate” his blog. That’s probably the only time in each of our lives we’ll be mentioned in the same sentence, since we’re not exactly birds of a feather ideologically.

But I’d sure rather be on M.J.’s side than Rosen’s. Neither M.J. nor I have been accused of passing on our country’s secrets to Israel.

As far as my take on his blog, he’s referring to this post.

Tags: obama watch blog, steve-rosen
Posted in Humor, Mideast Peace, Politics & Society | 2 Comments »

As Aipac Conference Begins, Group Embroiled in Scandal

Sunday, March 5th, 2006

Aipac’s annual hoopla conference began today with 4,500 delegates hearing speeches from the big shots like Ehud Olmert and John Bolton.

But behind all the festivities, the New York Times reports, stands a 900 pound gorilla of whom no one is speaking:

Steve Rosen: were his actions protected by First Amendment? (photo: Jewish Week)

Keith Weissman former Aipac staff member

Keith Weissman, former Aipac Iran specialist (photo: Niacouncil.org)

…The official program omits a topic likely to be a major theme of corridor chatter: the explosive Justice Department prosecution of two former officials of the group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, that is ticking toward an April trial date.

The highly unusual indictment of the former officials, Steven J. Rosen and Keith Weissman, accuses them of receiving classified information about terrorism and Middle East strategy from a Defense Department analyst, Lawrence A. Franklin, and passing it on to a journalist and an Israeli diplomat. Mr. Franklin pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 12½ years in prison, though his sentence could be reduced based on his cooperation in the case.

Rosen and Weissman’s lawyers are attempting to mount a First Amendment-based defense:

Some legal experts say the prosecution threatens political and press freedom, making a felony of the commerce in information and ideas that is Washington’s lifeblood. Federal prosecutors are using the Espionage Act for the first time against Americans who are not government officials, do not have a security clearance and, by all indications, are not a part of a foreign spy operation.

Of course, the defense and this entire passage omit one critical and salient aspect to this case. Larry Franklin didn’t just pass on government reports to Aipac’s staff. The staff in turn passed the information on to Naor Gilon, political director of the Israeli embassy (and possibly a Mossad operative?):

Former and current intelligence officials have said the two men may have stumbled into an American intelligence operation involving electronic monitoring of Israeli interests in the United States. The indictment includes what it indicates is a verbatim quotation from an April 1999 conversation Mr. Rosen had with an official of a foreign country, identified as Israel by government officials who have been briefed on the case.

So the Times article is dead-wrong in contending that Rosen and Weissman “are not part of a foreign spy operation.” The only possible comfort the two can take is that the feds allowed Gilon to leave the country without charging him. So they can argue that if the government believed this was an important espionage case, why didn’t it detain one of the key players?

Of course, the answer is that if the feds HAD detained an Israeli embassy employee there would have been hell to pay. Aipac would have had a conniption fit. American Jews would be in a tizzy and Israel would be as well. It would have roiled relations for months if not years. One assumes that our government believes it gains as much in national security matters from its relations with Israel as it lost in this spy scandal. Therefore, it didn’t want to go as far as it might have for fear of losing those benefits.

The article quotes Steve Aftergood, an anti-nuclear activist I’ve admired since we both worked for small non-profits in Los Angeles in the 1980s, as questioning the prosecution:

“If receiving and passing on national defense information is a crime, we’re going to have to build a lot more jails,” said Steven Aftergood, who runs the Project on Government Secrecy at the liberal Federation of American Scientists. “To make a crime of the kind of conversations Rosen and Weissman had with Franklin over lunch would not be surprising in the People’s Republic of China. But it’s utterly foreign to the American political system.”

I understand that for Steve, in his line of work, contact with government officials that involves dissemination of information is vital. And I can also understand why he sees this case as a potential threat to the exchange of ideas between government and the public interest sector. But I’d implore Steve and others who question this case to remember that we’re talking about more than this. We’re talking about Aipac staff who are charged with passing this information on to a foreign nation. That should make all the difference. Do you want to allow Aipac to collude with Israel in order to secure U.S. government documents?

Tags: aipac, espionage, israeli-spy-scandal, keith-weissman, naor-gilon, steve-rosen
Posted in Mideast Peace, Politics & Society | No 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 Never Spies on the U.S…except when it’s caught red-handed

Friday, May 6th, 2005

Today’s Haaretz carries the news that the political director of the Israeli Embassy in Washington will leave his post "for personal reasons":

Naor Gilon (credit: Maarivintl.com)

Naor Gilon, the head of the political department at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, whose name has been linked to the Pentagon analyst charged with passing classified information to unauthorized personnel, will leave his post during the summer.

According to reports from Israel, Gilon is the Israeli representative who received classified information from two employees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). The AIPAC officials allegedly received the information during conversations with Larry Franklin, the Pentagon analyst who was charged by the FBI on Wednesday.

Now, isn’t that interesting? When the AIPAC spying scandal first broke last August, the Israeli political establishment swore on a stack of Bibles (Old Testament of course) that Israel would NEVER spy on the U.S. "We learned our lesson after Jonathan Pollard." "We’re such close allies of the U.S. Why would we jeopardize such a trusting relationship by spying." And all of that turned out to be lies. Turns out, Gilon aided and abetted the AIPAC spies. Has Israel no shame?

Yes, of course all countries spy. In fact, spying is not always a bad thing. But for a country like Israel to engage in such idiotic risk-taking by damaging not just Israel’s reputation, but those of the individuals involved and that of AIPAC (which in my opinion deserves every bit of the bad reputation it has earned in this case) seems ludicrous. In fact, it seems like exactly the type of reckless behavior that Israel seems to specialize in.

In fact, I believe that the Justice Department is letting AIPAC and the Israeli government off entirely too easily. I think they should either arrest Gilon (I guess they can’t because of diplomatic immunity) or label him "persona non grata" immediately. Allowing him to stay here until the summer (as the article maintains) is worse than a slap on the wrist–it’s a slap in the air that misses the victim entirely.

Just for the hell of it, let’s go back in time to when the scandal first broke. Some of my posts from that period contain the following explanations and defenses from AIPAC, Israeli politicians and American Jewish leaders. I hope every single one of these people is mortified by their cupidity or lies:

Here’s what one senior Likud pol said at the time:

…The Israeli government made a firm decision [after Pollard] to stop all clandestine spying in the United States, Yuval Steinitz, the chairman of the foreign and defense committee in Parliament, said Saturday."

This was a firm decision," Mr. Steinitz said, "and I’m 100 percent confident–not 99 percent, but 100 percent–that Israel is not spying in the United States. We have no agents there and we are not gathering intelligence there, unlike probably every other country in the world, including some of America’s best friends in Europe."

And Israeli government lying continues as late as yesterday when, in response to news of Larry Franklin’s arrest, Foreign Minister Sylvan Shalom stated baldly:

"Israel does not carry on any activity in the United States which could harm, God forbid, its closest ally," Shalom told Israel’s Channel One TV.

Or how about this doozy from that choir boy of virtue, Natan Sharansky as quoted by CBS.com:

"There are absolutely no attempts to involve any member of the Jewish community and any general American citizens to spy for Israel against the United States," he said.

And these comments of his which were paraphrased by The Scotsman:

[Sharansky] claims that Israel had a spy in the Pentagon might have stemmed from internal US intelligence rivalry.

Talk about red herrings! It’s interesting to note that the histrionic defense of AIPAC by Malcom Hoenlein a few months ago not only raised the specter of an anti-Semitic plot by the U.S. government against the organization; but also postulated that the entire case stemmed from interagency turf wars (CIA vs. Pentagon) and an attempt to embarrass Israel’s hard-line neocon supporters in the Pentagon. How vivid an imagination Hoenlein has! And how in sync it is with Sharansky’s. Isn’t that a coincidence?

When Gilon’s identity was first revealed last August, CBS.com noted:

The Israeli daily Maariv on Monday quoted Gilon as saying that he did nothing wrong. "My hands are clean. I have nothing to hide. I acted according to the regulations," Gilon said.

The diplomat told Maariv he was concerned that as a result of the reports, he won’t be able to continue working in Washington. "Now, people will be scared to talk to me," the newspaper quoted him as saying.

The poor, hapless fellow. Just a deer caught in the FBI’s headlights, right?

This is a statement from AIPAC’s executive director, Howard Kohr:

Any allegation of criminal conduct by AIPAC or our employees is false and baseless. Neither AIPAC nor any of its employees has violated any laws or rules, nor has AIPAC or its employees ever received information the believed was secret or classified.

Now that AIPAC has fired Rosen and Weissman and tacitly acknowledged that they did precisely what AIPAC first claimed they hadn’t…one can certainly say that "time changes everything!"

The Agonist has perhaps the best and most comprehensive recap of the entire chronology of this case you’ll find.

Tags: aipac, espionage, israeli-embassy, israeli-spy-scandal, keith-weissman, naor-gilon, steve-rosen
Posted in Mideast Peace | 16 Comments »