Espionage! Oh no! The Jooz would never in engage in such activities. I swear on the six million this is a lie! Stop this anti-Semitic poisecution! :p

Washington Times (http://www.washtimes.com/world/20040828-110857-3716r.htm)

TEL AVIV — Israeli officials battled yesterday to contain damage from reports it had been caught spying on the United States, calling the charges illogical because of the extensive intelligence sharing between the two allies.

"Israel does not engage in intelligence activities in the U.S. We deny all these reports," staff in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office said late yesterday.

Larry Franklin,an official in the office of Douglas Feith, undersecretary of defense for policy, is believed to have fed Israel classified information on Iran and Iraq, U.S. officials said on Friday, but even as officials in Jerusalem issued the strongest possible denials yesterday, others worried a new spy scandal, in itself, would damage U.S.-Israeli ties. . .

You know they did it. They are liars.

Jews wouldn't lie. :rolleyes:

Of course they're going to deny it, does anyone actually think they'd just admit it? Idiot Americans. "They said they weren't spying, I believe them!"

That's the problem right there, Stribog. As with the USS Liberty the majority of dimwits out there will believe whatever CNN and the New York Times tells them.

Americans are totally programmed. If they were not they would have noticed something when the Pollard case was new.

As I mentioned elsewhere, I hope I am not overly optimistic in my belief that this revelation -- though "revelation" is undoubtedly the wrong word for those of us who are awake of the Jewish threat -- could snowball into a fair amount of public outrage. Can you imagine if a majority of the American sheeple woke up to realize that the Iraq war was fought on behalf of Israel at the prompting of Israeli fifth columnists? That's the best-case scenario, and it's something each of us should do our own little part to bring to fruition.

Even if the Jews manage to sweep this scandal under the rug, as they've done with so many others in the past, at the very least it lends more credibility to the charges made by "nutty anti-Semites" like us. It's a permanent mark on Israel's record, and it will serve as debate ammo with an indefinite shelf-life.

As I mentioned elsewhere, I hope I am not overly optimistic in my belief that this revelation -- though "revelation" is undoubtedly the wrong word for those of us who are awake of the Jewish threat -- could snowball into a fair amount of public outrage. Can you imagine if a majority of the American sheeple woke up to realize that the Iraq war was fought on behalf of Israel at the prompting of Israeli fifth columnists? That's the best-case scenario, and it's something each of us should do our own little part to bring to fruition.

Even if the Jews manage to sweep this scandal under the rug, as they've done with so many others in the past, at the very least it lends more credibility to the charges made by "nutty anti-Semites" like us. It's a permanent mark on Israel's record, and it will serve as debate ammo with an indefinite shelf-life.
I hope you're right Angler, but I'm afraid you're overly optimistic. Most people who supported the jew will continue to do so, and if you'll throw this incident in their face, they'll just say: 'every country does it'.
Your press will give a spin to it, and our press here won't even mention it. :(

More on Jewgate here:

Haaretz (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/470856.html)

WASHINGTON - Larry Franklin, the Pentagon analyst suspected of passing classified material about Iran to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, has never hidden his unequivocal support of Israel. Colleagues from the Near East and South Asia desk at the Defense Department said yesterday that his sympathy for Israel was overt and public - he didn't refrain from praising Israel and he held aggressive views about several Arab governments, primarily the ayatollahs' regime in Iran and Saddam Hussein's dictatorship in Iraq.

"Everyone knew he was a friend of Israel, but he didn't go about it in any unusual way," a Pentagon coworker said. "He was always accessible to everyone."

Franklin's resume describes his current position, which he has held since 2001, as: "Office of the Secretary of Defense, Policy, Near East/South Asia, Iran desk analyst, Office of Special Plans Iraq. Focus Projects: Hizbollah, Islam, Saudi Arabia." But the official resume reveals only a few details about the man at the center of the affair. . .

Another new article:

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1093750152975&p=1006953079865 (http://<a%20href=/)

Spy. Israel. Pentagon. AIPAC. Pollard. Iraq. Iran. Mix these words together and you have quite a story on the weekend before the Republican convention in a hotly contested election campaign. The question is whether the smell that is in the air is that of a spy scandal or of a Washington political and policy war run amok.

On Friday, anonymous FBI officials leaked aspects of an ongoing investigation of Larry Franklin, a mid-level Pentagon official specializing in Iran. Franklin reportedly shared a draft memo on Iran policy with staff from AIPAC, an organization that lobbies to strengthen the already close relations between America and Israel. Those staffers reportedly "may" have passed that information on to Israel. . .

I've heard he's not Jewish but Catholic, even though he did serve in the Israeli Air Force.

(Insert disparaging Christer remark here.)

Wintermute

www.isteve.com

Franklin is a reserve Air Force colonel and former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst. He was an attache at the US embassy in Tel Aviv at one point, which some might now see as suspicious. After the Cold War ended, Franklin became concerned with Iran as a threat to Israel and the US, and learned a little Persian (not very much--I met him once at a conference and he could only manage a few halting phrases of Persian). Franklin has a strong Brooklyn accent and says he is "from the projects." I was told by someone at the Pentagon that he is not Jewish, despite his strong association with the predominantly Jewish neoconservatives. I know that he is very close to Paul Wolfowitz. He seems a canny man and a political operator, and if he gave documents to AIPAC it was not an act of simple stupidity, as some observers have suggested. It was part of some clever scheme that became too clever by half.

Franklin moved over to the Pentagon from DIA, where he became the Iran expert, working for Bill Luti and Undersecretary of Defense for Planning, Douglas Feith. He was the "go to" person on Iran for Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, and for Feith. This situation is pretty tragic, since Franklin is not a real Iranist. His main brief appears to have been to find ways to push a policy of overthrowing its government (apparently once Iraq had been taken care of). This project has been pushed by the shadowy eminence grise, Michael Ledeen, for many years, and Franklin coordinated with Ledeen in some way. Franklin was also close to Harold Rhode, a long-time Middle East specialist in the Defense Department who has cultivated far right pro-Likud cronies for many years, more or less establishing a cell within the Department of Defense...


Josh Marshall, Laura Rozen and Paul Glastris have just published a piece in the Washington Monthly that details Franklin's meetings with corrupt Iranian arms dealer and con man Manuchehr Ghorbanifar, who had in the 1980s played a key role in the Iran-contra scandal. (For more on the interviews with Ghorbanifar, see Laura Rozen's web log). It is absolutely key that the meetings were attended also by Rhode, Ledeen and the head of Italy's military intelligence agency, SISMI, Nicolo Pollari, as well as Rome's Minister of Defense, Antonio Martino.

The rightwing government of corrupt billionnaire Silvio Berlusconi, including Martino, was a big supporter of an Iraq war. Moreover, we know that the forged documents falsely purporting to show Iraqi uranium purchases from Niger originated with a former SISMI agent. Watch the reporting of Josh Marshall for more on this SISMI/Ledeen/Rhode connection.

But journalist Matthew Yglesias has already tipped us to a key piece of information. The Niger forgeries also try to implicate Iran. Indeed, the idea of a joint Iraq/Iran nuclear plot was so far-fetched that it is what initially made the Intelligence and Research division of the US State Department suspicious of the forgeries, even before the discrepancies of dates and officials in Niger were noticed. ...

So Franklin, Ledeen, and Rhode, all of them pro-Likud operatives, just happen to be meeting with SISMI (the proto-fascist purveyor of the false Niger uranium story about Iraq and the alleged Iran-Iraq plot against the rest of the world) and corrupt Iranian businessman and would-be revolutionary, Ghorbanifar, in Europe. The most reasonable conclusion is that they were conspiring together about the Next Campaign after Iraq, which they had already begun setting in train, which is to get Iran.

But now The Jerusalem Post reveals that at least one of the meetings was quite specific with regard to an attempt to torpedo better US/Iran relations:


The purpose of the meeting with Ghorbanifar was to undermine a pending deal that the White House had been negotiating with the Iranian government. At the time, Iran had considered turning over five al-Qaida operatives in exchange for Washington dropping its support for Mujahadeen Khalq, an Iraq-based rebel Iranian group listed as a terrorist organization by the State Department.


The Neoconservatives have some sort of shadowy relationship with the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization or MEK. Presumably its leaders have secretly promised to recognize Israel if they ever succeed in overthrowing the ayatollahs in Iran. When the US recently categorized the MEK as a terrorist organization, there were howls of outrage from "scholars" associated with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (a wing of AIPAC), such as ex-Trotskyite Patrick Clawson and Daniel Pipes. MEK is a terrorist organization by any definition of the term, having blown up innocent people in the course of its struggle against the Khomeini government. (MEK is a cult-like mixture of Marx and Islam). The MEK had allied with Saddam, who gave them bases in Iraq from which to hit Iran. When the US overthrew Saddam, it raised the question of what to do with the MEK. The pro-Likud faction in the Pentagon wanted to go on developing their relationship with the MEK and using it against Tehran.

So it transpires that the Iranians were willing to give up 5 key al-Qaeda operatives, whom they had captured, in return for MEK members.

Franklin, Rhode and Ledeen conspired with Ghorbanifar and SISMI to stop that trade. It would have led to better US-Iran relations, which they wanted to forestall, and it would have damaged their proteges, the MEK.

Since high al-Qaeda operatives like Saif al-Adil and possibly even Saad Bin Laden might know about future operations, or the whereabouts of Bin Laden, for Franklin and Rhode to stop the trade grossly endangered the United States.

The FBI has evidence that Franklin passed a draft presidential directive on Iran to AIPAC, which then passed it to the Israelis. The FBI is construing these actions as espionage or something close to it. But that is like getting Al Capone on tax evasion. Franklin was not giving the directive to AIPAC in order to provide them with information. He was almost certainly seeking feedback from them on elements of it. He was asking, "Do you like this? Should it be changed in any way?" And, he might also have been prepping AIPAC for the lobbying campaign scheduled for early in 2005, when Congress will have to be convinced to authorize military action, or at least covert special operations, against Iran. AIPAC probably passed the directive over to Israel for the same reason--not to inform, but to seek input. That is, AIPAC and Israel were helping write US policy toward Iran, just as they had played a key role in fomenting the Iraq war.




Okay, did you get all that? Me neither. You are probably saying, "I don't like conspiracy theories." I don't either. But, being a supporter of republican self-government by the people, I especially don't like conspiracy realities. And a lot of evidence points toward Michael Ledeen as a man who has devoted much energy over the years toward turning conspiracy theories into realities.










http://www.maarivintl.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&articleID=10841

Spy scandal fizzling out

Supposed Israeli mole looking more and more like a simple jackass. Case seems to have more to do with US domestic agenda than foreign espionage
Maariv NRG and International reporters


A senior administration official has told the press that this does not look like a case of spying. “From what we know, Larry Franklin looks more like an incompetent fool way out of his depth than a spy. He apparently passed on some papers to Israel without realizing the ramifications of his actions”.

The source added that both Israel and the US regularly exchange sensitive information. “At most Larry Franklin is guilty of poor judgment in determining what he should or should not share with Israel”.

Another senior source said that Israel did not need Franklin’s information. Israel’s contacts with high-level officials are such that a phone call to the US would have been sufficient to elicit the information.

A senior Jewish source has told Maariv that this looks more and more like a case being driven by domestic political agenda than any real security concerns. “The fact that this affair became public two days before the Republican convention, is probably not a coincidence. We know there are lots of people out there who have an agenda to discredit the neo-conservatives, irrespective of the facts”, he said. He also mentioned the possibility of inter-turf scuffling between various US government intelligence and security agencies as a possible contributing factor.

They are spinning this one down pretty hard.

Never let it be said that the Jews don't try to cover their tracks...

I haven't even seen this story on the News ... if it weren't for the internet I would have never heard about it

From National Vanguard, which is becoming a useful website:

Is Franklin A Scapegoat?
Posted on: 2004-08-29 13:59:27

Sacrifice of Gentile as alleged Israeli spy may conceal deeper Zionist rot at the top

"Franklin is not Jewish." With these words the Israeli daily Haaretz revealed a leading Jewish ploy to counter the effects of the news of the FBI-Pentagon spy probe which hit headlines Friday (August 27). Other pages out of the playbook include the line that Larry Franklin is only a minor paper-pushing hack, the implication being that he would be of little value to Israel. Overnight, the mass media amended the original line that Franklin was a 'senior official', downgrading him to a nobody.

Of course, there is the allegation that the FBI probe is 'anti-Semitic.' Said the Washington Post, "One Israeli official familiar with the situation said yesterday that his government had checked "every organ here" to make sure that no part of government was involved. "We checked everything possible, and there's absolutely nothing. It's a non-event, from the Israeli point of view. Someone leaked this to [hurt] . . . the president, AIPAC and the Jews on the eve of the Republican convention," he speculated."

Franklin's ethnicity is of little importance. Jews have used Gentile operatives since the beginning, as the Old Testament myth of Rahab the prostitute shows. The now nearly forgotten Anti-Defamation League spy scandal of a decade ago had the Zionist organization running a corrupt cop and a homosexual art dealer -- both Whites -- as spies against a host of targets. Some of the worst Zionists are demented Christian fundamentalists whose stance is often to the right of even Jewish Zionists themselves. And of course it could be argued that George Bush and his Jewish surrounded cronies are the ultimate Zionists at present. Indeed, with so many Jews in powerful positions in US government, the loss of an alleged spy such as Franklin is at worst a PR hiccup.

Some analysts are now of the opinion that Larry Franklin is a scapegoat to cover deeper Zionist penetration of the Department of Defense and other agencies. The lack of Jewish loyalty to their Gentile operatives is literally legendary, as the story of Uriah the Hittite (an Indo-European) shows.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Printed from National Vanguard (http://www.nationalvanguard.org/story.php?id=3670)

WM

It's not like Jews have never did anything like it before:

http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/spies/rosenberg/1.html

It's not like Jews have never did anything like it before:

http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/spies/rosenberg/1.htmlIt's not like the Rosenbergs were the only spies in the Cold War cosmo. In fact they just discovered an American who spied for Russia two or three years ago, a White Protestant named Hansen...

Hansen was Catholic and a member of Opus Dei to boot.

Hansen was Catholic and a member of Opus Dei to boot.He was? can you provide a link for that, because that's news to me.
...
But anyway the point is he was non-Jewish

:: It's not like the Rosenbergs were the only spies in the Cold War cosmo. In fact they just discovered an American who spied for Russia two or three years ago, a White Protestant named Hansen...

There were many, many, many other Jewish spies. Harry Gold, David Greenglass and Ruth Greenglass, Johnathan Pollard, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, Theodore Hall, William Perl etc all come to mind.

He was? can you provide a link for that, because that's news to me. ... But anyway the point is he was non-Jewish
So what? No one has argued that all spies are Jewish. It has simply been pointed out here that a disproportionate amount of them are Jews.

There were many, many, many other Jewish spies. Harry Gold, David Greenglass and Ruth Greenglass, Johnathan Pollard, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, Theodore Hall, William Perl etc all come to mind.

Wasn't Harry Dexter White a Jew?

Wintermute

Robert Hannsen (http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/spies/hanssen/1.html).

Im surprised Fade forgot Robert Oppenheimer and Alger Hiss( not to fuel the fire)... although Oppenheimer's spying is not certain since the one scrap of something close to hard evidence was a very senile disturbed old ex NKVD/KGB guy who said he was...

I'm aware that a disproportionate number of spies were Jewish, which only makes sense since a disproportionate number of people in positions in which they could conduct espionage (i.e. positions of power) were Jews. That, and a disproportionate number of the supporters of Communism and general Leftist politics were jewish, so naturally it would make them more inclined to spy for the USSR.

but the way cosmocreator phrased it, it seemed like he was saying "every spy was a jew" or something, or at least that's the impression I got. Now that I re-read his statement maybe that's not what he meant after all, but oh well, it's late.

There was another fairly recent (mid 90s) spy that was caught named Aldrich Ames, I'm fairly certain he was not Jewish either

Here's what looks to be the skinny on CBS' publicity for the Franklin case.

WM

Media Exposed Franklin As He Was About to 'Sting' Zionists
Posted on: 2004-08-30 13:33:32

Feds had turned accused spy as he prepared to expose Zionist spy ring

As reported here on NationalVanguard.org yesterday, the Zionist media was apparently setting accused Pentagon spy Larry Franklin up as a scapegoat for charges that he was providing intelligence to a Zionist spy ring. Franklin was being portrayed as a low-level, naive Gentile, despite the fact that the probe was leading into the offices of some of the top Zionist power-brokers in the Bush adminstration. The FBI investigation had gone on for at least one year.

Now the New York Times is reporting that the FBI had managed to 'flip' their quarry, Franklin, and were preparing to run him as a classic double agent to uncover the depths of the Zionist spy operation. In addition, the CBS exposure of Franklin last Friday -- using 'anonymous sources' -- meant that his cover was blown and the fed sting was closed down.

The release of the information happened on Friday night, the slowest period of the week for news, with a weekend ahead and then the hype of the Republican convention, which opened Monday. With well-timed spinning the Zionists were well-positioned to bury the news as a mere hiccup.

Israel is confident. Legislator Ehud Yatom, chairman of the Israeli covert intelligence subcommittee, said he counted on the allegations being withdrawn quickly. "I imagine that within a few days the United States will come out with an announcement that Israel has no connection whatsoever with the supposed spy and his activities," Yatom told Israel Radio.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Printed from National Vanguard (http://www.nationalvanguard.org/story.php?id=3677)

WM:

Begorrah: I saw Patty B. on MSNBC or some such the night this broke and he was hinting the same thing- wondering at the timing of this, and intimating someone released this too early intentionally.

At the time, I didnt quite grok his meaning.

Squinty-eyed Pat iz right. Itz possible this Franklin dude was exposed too early but there is another more sinister plot by the hook-nosed media barons in the works. The jooz will attempt to bury this story behind the voluminous coverage they shall give the Republican Convention.

I believe I have seen this fellow on Hardball with Chris Matthews before.

DailyStar (http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=7909)

WASHINGTON: Washington was rocked late last week by allegations that a Pentagon policy analyst on Iran, Laurence A. Franklin, had passed classified information to Israel through the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the leading pro-Israel lobby group in the US. He is also said to have had extensive meetings with Naor Gilon, head of the political department at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, and a specialist on Iran's nuclear weapons program.

While both AIPAC and the Israeli government have issued categorical denials of any espionage activities, most observers say that law enforcement officials would not leak the accusations if they did not have the evidence to prove their charges. Franklin is said to have provided the Israelis with a secret presidential directive on Iran related to its ongoing nuclear program.

The New York Times reported on Aug. 30 that, "news reports about the inquiry compromised important investigative steps, like the effort to follow the trail back to the Israelis." The leak seems less designed to pressure Franklin, who is said to have been cooperating with federal agents for several weeks, than to stymie the investigation, which is said to be far broader than the allegations made public at this stage. If the allegations are true, they could have serious implications for both US-Israel relations and for the reputation of AIPAC, which is regarded as one of the most powerful and effective lobby groups in the US. . .

Arrests are imminent according to Antiwar.com.

NY Slimes (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/31/politics/campaign/31inquire.html?ex=1094923271&ei=1&en=b4e77a3947e930d6)

WASHINGTON, Aug. 30 - F.B.I. agents met in recent days with two high-level Pentagon officials to discuss the case of a Defense Department analyst who is suspected of turning over a classified policy document to Israel, a senior official in the department said on Monday.

The two officials, Paul D. Wolfowitz, the deputy defense secretary, and Douglas J. Feith, the under secretary for policy, were briefed on the case of the analyst, Lawrence A. Franklin, who was a lower-level employee in Mr. Feith's office who specialized in Iranian issues.

The official said that meetings with Mr. Wolfowitz and Mr. Feith were briefings rather than interviews. It remained somewhat unclear whether either man was asked any questions during the meetings about his knowledge of Mr. Franklin's activities.

Mr. Feith met with agents at his home on Sunday, the official said. It was not clear exactly when and where the agents met with Mr. Wolfowitz. The meetings were first reported on Monday by the Associated Press. . .
Used to working behind the scenes, AIPAC suddenly thrust into limelight

AIPAC officials have been identified. Now watch the Jews squeal 'bright light, bright light, anti-semitism!'

JTA (http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?intarticleid=14440&intcategoryid=3)

NEW YORK, Aug. 30 (JTA) — In its outreach to potential supporters and to the media, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee touts its access to the highest levels of government.


Now it’s that very access that has thrust the pro-Israel lobby, accustomed to working behind the scenes, into the limelight.

Accusations that AIPAC officials received classified information from Pentagon staffer Larry Franklin and forwarded it on to Israel broke on the eve of this week’s Republican National Convention in New York, where AIPAC is hosting several policy forums for Republican contributors.

Both Israel and AIPAC deny any impropriety in the case. Many U.S. Jews believe, or hope, that no charges will be filed and that the issue will fade from the headlines in coming days. But the charges, and their prominent play in the media, have reopened questions about the way AIPAC does business with the U.S. and Israeli governments. . .

This is getting interesting. More on this from the Slimes.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Israel-Spy-Probe. (http://<a%20href=/)

JERUSALEM (AP) -- A senior Israeli diplomat in Washington has met with a Pentagon analyst being investigated by the FBI on suspicion he passed classified information to Israel, Israeli officials confirmed Monday.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the meetings were well within the norm of diplomacy and that no laws were broken. Israel has flatly denied it has a spy at the Pentagon.

The Israeli diplomat was identified as Naor Gilon, head of the political department at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, and a specialist on Iran's nuclear weapons program. U.S. officials say the FBI investigation focuses on Lawrence A. Franklin, an analyst of Iranian affairs who works in a Pentagon policy office headed by Douglas J. Feith, the undersecretary for policy. Feith has been accused by Democrats of seeking to manipulate intelligence to help make the case for going to war in Iraq. Congressional investigations have found no evidence of that. . .

I'm aware that a disproportionate number of spies were Jewish, which only makes sense since a disproportionate number of people in positions in which they could conduct espionage (i.e. positions of power) were Jews.


Maybe they seek those position so they can spy.

This story is heating up.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1204587/posts

WASHINGTON - An FBI probe into the handling of highly classified material by Pentagon civilians is broader than previously reported, and goes well beyond allegations that a single mid-level analyst gave a top-secret Iran policy document to Israel, three sources familiar with the investigation said Saturday.



The probe, which has been going on for more than two years, also has focused on other civilians in the Secretary of Defense's office, said the sources, who spoke on condition they not be identified, but who have first-hand knowledge of the subject.

In addition, one said, FBI investigators in recent weeks have conducted interviews to determine whether Pentagon officials gave highly classified U.S. intelligence to a leading Iraqi exile group, the Iraqi National Congress, which may in turn have passed it on to Iran. INC leader Ahmed Chalabi has denied his group was involved in any wrongdoing.

The linkage, if any, between the two leak investigations, remains unclear.

But they both center on the office of Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith, the Pentagon's No. 3 official. Feith's office, which oversees policy matters, has been the source of numerous controversies over the last three years. His office had close ties to Chalabi and was responsible for post-war Iraq planning that the administration has now acknowledged was inadequate. Before the war, Feith and his aides pushed the now-discredited theory that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was in league with al-Qaida. . .

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/473264.html

Contradicting Israel's contention that it does not spy on America, U.S. government officials say Israel secretly maintains a large and active intelligence-gathering operation in the United States, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.

The officials said Israel has long attempted to recruit U.S. officials as spies and to procure classified documents, according to the Times.

The issue burst to the surface last weekend, when American media first reported that the FBI suspects Pentagon analyst Larry Franklin of funneling classified documents to Israel through the Jewish lobby AIPAC.

Israel says it set a policy of not spying on the United States after Jonathan Pollard's arrest in November 1985 and the damage it did to bilateral relations in general and to intelligence and security ties in particular. For 20 years, Israel says, that policy has translated into clear and unequivocal directives from the political leadership to the intelligence and defense communities: They are not allowed to locate candidates for recruiting as agents, cannot recruit and operate agents, nor pay for information.

"I can tell you here, very authoritatively, very categorically, Israel does not spy on the United States," Israeli ambassador to Israel Danny Ayalon told CNN this week. "We do not gather information on our best friend and ally."

But a former intelligence official who is familiar with the Franklin probe and recently left the government told the Times that Israel aggressively targets U.S. intelligence.

"There is a huge, aggressive, ongoing set of Israeli activities directed against the United States," the former official said. "Anybody who worked in counterintelligence in a professional capacity will tell you the Israelis are among the most aggressive and active countries targeting the United States."

"The denials are laughable," the former official said.

Current and former officials involved with Israel at the White House, CIA, State Department and Congress had similar appraisals, the paper said, although not all made equally harsh assessments.

A Bush administration official confirmed that Israel ran intelligence operations against the United States, but said that was not unusual. "I don't know of any foreign government that doesn't do collection in Washington," he told the paper. Another U.S. official said Israeli espionage efforts were relatively subtle and typically involved intermediaries.

But a former senior intelligence official who focused on Middle East issues told the paper that Israel tried to recruit him as a spy in 1991.

"I had an Israeli intelligence officer pitch me in Washington at the time of the first Gulf War," he said. "I said, 'No, go away,' and reported it to counterintelligence."

The U.S. officials all insisted on anonymity because classified material was involved and because of the political sensitivity of Israeli relations with Washington.

U.S. diplomats, military officers and other officials are routinely warned before going to Israel that local agents are known to slip into homes and hotel rooms of visiting delegations to go through briefcases and to download computers, the Times said.

At the same time, FBI and other counterespionage agents have covertly followed, bugged and videotaped Israeli diplomats, intelligence officers and others in Washington, New York and elsewhere, officials told the paper. The FBI routinely watches many diplomats assigned to America.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1206919/posts

FBI agents on Friday copied the computer hard drive of a senior staffer at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee who has been questioned in relation to the case of a Pentagon official suspected of turning over a classified document either directly to Israel, or via the pro-Israel lobby group.


Sources in Washington said the hard drive was that of Steve Rosen, AIPAC's director of foreign policy issues.

It was not clear if FBI agents also seized other materials from Rosen's office. AIPAC says it is cooperating fully with the FBI's investigation.

Government lawyers, according to Tuesday's New York Times, are preparing to make the first arrests in the case by issuing a criminal complaint against one or more figures who are said to be involved. The case is being handled by federal prosecutors in Virginia.

But experts suggested that the rush to file a complaint could be a sign that the charge will be less severe than that of espionage, as was originally reported.

"The fact that they're going to file a complaint instead of an indictment is an indication of the weakness of their case," said one criminal defense expert. A criminal complaint would allow the government to proceed with arrests more quickly.

AIPAC and Israel have denied any wrongdoing in a case that has become increasingly muddled since CBS News reported on Friday that the FBI was about to arrest an Israeli mole in the Pentagon.

Investigators suspect that a mid-level Pentagon staffer, Larry Franklin, provided either AIPAC or Israel with a secret draft of an internal planning document on US policy toward Iran.

Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith have been briefed on the case, as have officials at the White House, State Department, and congressional leaders.

Congressional leaders continued on Tuesday to rally around AIPAC, whose image, many in the pro-Israel community fear, has been tarnished by accusations of wrongdoing.

"AIPAC has worked hard to build its credibility with members of Congress on both sides of the aisle," House Majority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri said. "While the House will want to look carefully at any allegations that might endanger our national security, it will begin that look with a record of great confidence in our relationship with AIPAC and our strongest ally and the only democracy in the Middle East, Israel."

The House Democratic Whip, Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland) also expressed confidence in AIPAC. "I have worked with AIPAC for many years. They are a very successful, strong, and committed organization and do a tremendous job advocating for the important US-Israel relationship."

Despite those voices of confidence, some in Washington said they expected that US officials would be reluctant to meet with AIPAC staffers, at least in the immediate short-term, now that there is a suspicion that AIPAC is being monitored by the FBI. "The biggest implication, is that mid-level officials will not be meeting with AIPAC. They don't want to be seen with them," said one Washington lobbyist.

http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?intarticleid=14473&intcategoryid=3

WASHINGTON, Sept. 7 (JTA) — New twists and turns in the case of alleged wrongdoing by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee have left many in the Jewish community baffled.


A week after allegations first broke suggesting that AIPAC was involved in the exchange of classified information from the Pentagon to Israeli officials, new reports suggest FBI investigators have been monitoring the pro-Israel lobby for more than two years.

The first question many in the Jewish community are asking is, “Why?”

“We’re pitching in the dark,” said Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. “We haven’t seen a shred of evidence.”

Much remains unknown about the origins of the investigation, hurting Jewish groups’ ability to respond and defend one of the most prominent organizations in the community.

While they work to exonerate AIPAC in the public eye, Jewish leaders say they also must make sure the issue won’t affect the way they do business. Groups worry that they, too, could be targeted for investigation or left to deal with potentially changed perceptions of the organized American Jewish community.

Jewish leaders said talks are ongoing as to new ways to defend AIPAC and the Jewish community in both public and private contexts.

Quietly, there is deep concern in Jewish circles about the effect the investigation will have, no matter how it plays out, on Jewish groups’ ability to function. With the summer ending and many people in Washington returning to work, the next few weeks will be an important test for how the organized Jewish community is perceived in the capital.

“It really has done a considerable amount of harm, no matter what the outcome is,” said Barry Jacobs, director of strategic studies at the American Jewish Committee. “It’s going to circumscribe our ability to do what any nonprofit does, which is obtain information and exchange views.”

Chief among the concerns is whether other Jewish entities might be under investigation without their knowledge, or are being monitored in relation to this case.

“If they are watching AIPAC, how many other Jewish organizations are they watching as well?” asked Tom Neumann, executive director of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs.

Confident they have nothing to hide, Jewish leaders say they won’t change the way they do business. But the case could serve as a guide to reinforce to Jewish officials the need to play by the rules on security matters.

“Are we too lax in our discussions, leaving the door open for misunderstandings?” one Jewish leader wondered.

Beyond security concerns, Jewish leaders worry that now they may be seen differently when they walk into a room with governmental officials or people unfamiliar with different groups in the community.

“They don’t necessarily know the difference between AIPAC and JCPA and the federations,” said Hannah Rosenthal, executive director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs.

Congressional officials say they’ll take a wait-and-see approach toward AIPAC, but are skeptical about the investigation. One Democratic congressional aide said if the issue under scrutiny was a policy discussion about Iran, as has been reported, the line between legal and illegal dialogue is pretty thin.

Publicly, Jewish leaders remain solidly behind AIPAC. Several Jewish organizations have released statements supporting the work AIPAC has done over the years, and most others have expressed similar thoughts when asked by reporters.

AIPAC is one of the best-known Jewish organizations in the country, respected for its strong ties to government officials, especially members of Congress. While some Jewish groups resent AIPAC’s ability to set the Jewish community’s agenda on Middle East matters, or don’t always agree with its tactics, there is strong sentiment that any negative attention for AIPAC will hurt all Jewish groups’ efforts.

Some Jewish leaders say the initial feeling in the community was that it was better not to speak out — not because of a lack of support for AIPAC but in hopes of minimizing media coverage of the story. But now that more than 300 articles already have been written on the issue in American newspapers, that thinking has changed.

Jewish leaders now are minimizing the investigation, suggesting it can’t be of real merit because it has been going on for two years without arrests. They also note that if there were merit to the case it’s unlikely that President Bush and his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, would have addressed the group after the investigation was launched. Rice reportedly was aware of the investigation.

If the FBI is pursuing an intelligence investigation, as is believed, and not a criminal investigation, it’s hard to know what launched it. The guidelines for that type of investigation are classified, a former senior FBI official said.

He said it would be normal for the investigation to go on for a long time without arrests, though it would have to be reviewed and adjudicated internally at the FBI or Justice Department.

“AIPAC is not a soft target,” the official said. “To launch an investigation against AIPAC, you are going to have to have some credible information to go with it.”

Once an investigation is launched, its direction can be tailored by people who may be out to prove — because of bias or in the interest of catching a big fish — that AIPAC acted illegally, Jewish leaders said.

“Overall, it’s finding a needle in a haystack,” said JINSA’s Neumann. “If you go into enough haystacks, you’ll find something that resembles a needle, but is not a needle.”

There also is concern that the saga may not have a succinct end.

It may be difficult to learn when the investigation into AIPAC is completed, if no charges are filed, and its exact origins — information Jewish leaders say would be useful in clearing the name of AIPAC and the community in general.

“I don’t think there is a great deal of trust in an investigation in this political climate,” said Rosenthal of the JCPA. “I hope we find out the facts and find out why someone would start this story.”

For now, theories abound. Some suggest anti-Semitic or anti-Israel entities within the government are propelling the investigation forward or leaking it to the media. Others suggest that opponents of the war in Iraq are trying to tie some of its key architects — so-called “neo-conservatives” in the Pentagon — to Israel and to possible dual loyalties.

“If that is the pretext, it’s a problem,” Neumann said. “Someone may be out to prove that thesis is true, and they can look as long as they want.”

AIPAC is hoping to weather the storm by proving its strength as an organization. In an appeal to contributors Tuesday, AIPAC leaders said decision makers in Washington will look at AIPAC’s financial strength to gauge its overall viability. “We cannot abide any suggestion that American citizens should be perceived as being involved in illegal activities simply for seeking to participate in the decisions of their elected leaders, or the officials who work for them,” read the letter, signed by AIPAC’s president, Bernice Manocherian, and executive director, Howard Kohr. “That is our right as citizens of the greatest democracy in the history of mankind. That is a right we will proudly exercise. That is a right we will staunchly defend.”