Franklin is the fellow under investigation for allegedly passing U.S. state secrets to Israel via the pro-Israel lobbying group, AIPAC, a charge that I, along with everyone else familiar with AIPAC, find highly implausible, at least to the extent intentional violations of the law are said to be involved. Here’s a bombshell about the story you might have missed, courtesy of Ha’aretz:
David Szardi, [sic: it’s Szady] a high-ranking FBI official who is conducting the investigation of AIPAC, is the same person accused a few years ago of harassing a young Jewish lawyer from the CIA out of anti-Semitic motives, and even causing his discharge from the agency. In the trial (which has not yet ended) it was said that Szardi demanded the dismissal of the attorney for suspected pro-Israeli leanings. The arguments: he had been a counselor in a Jewish summer camp, his family contributes to Israeli charities and he is related to former president Ezer Weizman. The lawyer complained, and an investigation was launched against Szardi. The director of the CIA wrote a letter to the Anti-Defamation League in which he admitted that elements [other sources say language used in] of the investigation were “insensitive, unprofessional and highly inappropriate.”
See also this column by Joel Mowbray, pointing out that the FBI is relying on some very dubious sources, and a press release from Rep. Robert Wexler, providing more details about the Szadi controversy.
According to the September 30 Palm Beach Post, the FBI responds: “The suggestion that the FBI or any FBI official has influenced this investigation based on racial, ethnic or religious bias is simply unfounded, untrue, and contrary to the very values the FBI holds highest.”
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