Israel Matzav

Franklin: FBI AIPAC probe anti-Semitic

In an exclusive interview with the Washington Times, former Pentagon analyst Larry Franklin (pictured) charges the FBI with anti-Semitism in its probe of AIPAC - the largest pro-Israel lobby in the United States - earlier this decade. Even though he was used as an informant, Franklin was originally sentenced to 13 years in jail as part of the probe, but that sentence was reduced to probation earlier this year after charges against two former AIPAC employees were dropped.

Franklin said in that interview that he became disturbed by several apparently anti-Semitic remarks by his FBI handlers. His cooperation with the agency, which involved taping his conversations with officials of AIPAC and the Israeli Embassy, was first reported by the Times on Wednesday.

"One agent said to me, 'How can an Irish Catholic from the Bronx get mixed up with all these ...,' and I finished the sentence for him: 'Jews?' And I proceeded to tell him that Christ and all the Apostles and even his mom were Jewish," Franklin said in the interview.

"So it was that sort of thing. And just sarcastic turns of the phrase from time to time. You know, I felt dirty sometimes," he said.

FBI Assistant Director John Miller declined to address the charges of anti-Semitism.

"We have no way to respond to thirdhand characterizations of partial statements allegedly made by unnamed FBI employees several years ago," Mr. Miller said. "If Mr. Franklin would like to make a formal complaint about the conduct of any FBI employee, there is a process to do."

...

"But that [anti-Semitism] dimension was part of this investigation and may have been an initial incitement of this investigation," he said.

During the AIPAC probe, Franklin said, FBI agents whom he declined to identify by name "asked me about every Jew I knew in [the office of the secretary of defense]. There was an element of that."

Several Jews held prominent positions in the department at the time, including Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith.

...

Franklin, during the interview at the office of his attorney, Plato Cacheris, said he learned while working as a double agent for the FBI that the bureau had been investigating AIPAC and Mr. Rosen, its former policy director, since at least the 1990s, although he did not learn the specifics of the probe.

An AIPAC spokesman declined to comment.

Hmmm.

If I were a Jew living in the United States, this sort of thing would make me think long and hard about accepting employment in any US government position that's connected to national security. And perhaps that's precisely the goal of this sort of investigation.

Read the whole thing.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:02 PM