Spy Allegations Against AIPAC:

EyeonthePost.org has some thoughts on the Washington Post's coverage of what strikes me as, thus far, a major non-story--the allegation, still unproven, that a low-level, non-Jewish, Pentagon official shared a single classified document discussing American policy toward Iran with members of AIPAC. EyeonthePost reports that the Post is now up to nine articles in eight days regarding an allleged espionage case in which there have been no indictments, no criminal charges, and lots of rumor and innuendo.

The idea that AIPAC would jeopardize its considerable power and influence by knowingly serving as a conduit for Israeli espionage strikes me as completely absurd. Less absurd is the possibility that rogue employees with the organization would do so, but the more likely explanation is the innocent one: AIPAC, contrary to popular belief that if focuses solely on Congress, spends considerable time and energy developing relationships with, and lobbying, the executive branch. During one meeting with a Pentagon official discussing Iran policy, the official shared an unimportant but technically classified document with AIPAC officials, which the official (a political appointee, as I recall) may not have realized was illegal.

In the absence of any hard evidence or criminal indictments, the whole thing strikes me as something of a witch hunt against AIPAC, which many Washington insider fear and loath. Note the gleefulness of the Post's coverage. There is also a great deal of resentment against the "neoconservative cabal" at the Pentagon, and it appears from a distance that someone at the FBI decided that it was worth tailing American officials somehow associated with Feith, et al., to see if they were really spies. I'm reserving judgment, but for now it's a tempest in a teapot, and the whole "scandal" appears more than anything to be a product of paranoia about "Jewish influence," and of the FBI's need to come up with something to justify the resources its wasted on its investigation.

P.S. I have no doubt that, despite its denials, Israel (along with every other country that can muster the resources) spies on the U.S., and vice versa. So?

The Franklin Affair, AIPAC, and (Possible) Anti-Semitism: 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."