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Participants await speakers at an AIPAC conference hosted by the University of Florida Jewish Student Union in 2004.
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04/26
Arutz Sheva |
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| By israelinsider staff and partners April 27, 2005 |
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One of Washington's most influential pro-Israel lobbying groups, AIPAC (American Israel Pubic Affairs Committee), has fired two senior employees in an effort to distance itself from an FBI inquiry into suspected spying for Israel.
Reports of the FBI investigation -- much of which has been shrouded in secrecy since it was first disclosed last summer -- suggest that a low-level Pentagon official, Larry Franklin, passed classified information onto AIPAC employees, who in turn are suspected of spying for Israel.
The two ex-employees are Steven Rosen, AIPAC's former policy director, and Keith Weissman, AIPAC's former senior analyst on Iran.
According to a report in The New York Times, the employees were fired after federal prosecutors unsuccessfully attempted to settle the case with a plea bargain.
The firings represent a significant about-face for the pro-Israel lobby, which until the firings, stood resolutely behind the two men, even as FBI agents raided AIPAC offices in August and December of last year.
According to a report in The Jerusalem Post, the two AIPAC employees were "set-up" by the FBI -- evidently through the use of Franklin as an FBI plant -- to pass onto Rosen and Weissman "classified" information regarding Iranian plans to kidnap and kill Israelis working in the Kurdish areas of northern Iraq.
Rosen and Weissman are suspected of tipping off the Israeli embassy in Washington of the Iranian plan.
According to a report in The Washington Post which sites law enforcement officials, Franklin provided the AIPAC employees with a draft presidential directive on Iran, as well as other information, which in turn was passed onto Israel. Law enforcement officials told the paper that federal prosecutors are considering filing criminal charges in the case.
After being suspended from his former job as a Pentagon policy analyst, Franklin, who according to reports has been cooperating with federal prosecutors, is back to work at the Defense Department, only this time without security clearances.
The two AIPAC employees, who until their firing were on paid leave since January, are maintaining their innocence of any wrongdoing. According to a statement issued by their lawyers, "Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman have not violated any U.S. law or AIPAC policy. Contrary to press accounts, they have never solicited, received, or passed on any classified documents. They carried out their job responsibilities solely to serve AIPAC's goal of strengthening the U.S.-Israel relationship."
Patrick Dorton, AIPAC's spokesman, responding to the lawyers' statement by saying, "The statement made by Rosen and Weissman represents solely their view of the facts.
"The action that AIPAC has taken was done in consultation with counsel after careful consideration of recently learned information, and the conduct AIPAC expects of its employees."
The developing scandal has cast a pall over AIPAC's activities, stirring concern among some of the organization's wealthy donors. Some supporters are worried that the scandal might undercut U.S. support of Israel.
Despite the turmoil, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will be a featured speaker at AIPAC's upcoming annual meeting in May, alongside Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and senior Congressional leaders.
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