U.S. objects Israeli diplomats testimony in AIPAC trial
U.S. government opposes allowing the testimony from three Israeli diplomats in the trial of two former senior AIPAC officials, Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman
(WASHINGTON) The U.S. government opposes allowing the testimony from three Israeli diplomats in the trial of two former senior AIPAC officials, Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman.
The two men are accused of passing on classified information related to U.S. security.
A court in Alexandria, south of Washington, held a discussion of the affairs of Keith and Rosen, and there the government testified on the affair. Lawyers representing the two, asked for time to question three Israeli diplomats to prove they never were Israeli agents. The prosecution however is opposed to the testimony arguing it is irrelevant.
According to the prosecution, Rosen and Weissman, are not referred to in the indictment as Israeli agents, but are accused of giving classified information.
The Israeli diplomats who met with AIPAC representatives enjoy immunity. Israel then announced that should the diplomats be asked to testify, it will allow them to do so in the form of written questions presented to Israel and written answers provided by the diplomats.
The trial of the AIPAC representatives is causing tension to the American government mainly in the State Department and the National Security Council. Those held meetings with representatives of the pro-Israel lobby. David Satterfield, Deputy U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, who for years served as a top official in the State Department’s Middle East desk, has been asked to testify.
Other names mentioned in the trial are Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Stephen Hadley, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, and his deputy Elliot Abrams, who oversees Israel’s file in the White House.
Rosen and Hadley are accused of receiving secret information from Larry Frankling, the Pentagon Iran analyst, who pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to divulge classified information to unauthorized individuals and was sentenced for 12 years of imprisonment.
According to the indictment, AIPAC officials sought to gain access to classified U.S. information since 1999, on al-Qaeda and its policy on Iran.
Rosen and Weissman are accused of illegally receiving classified information from Rosen. Israel is not mentioned in the indictment, however reports had it that the tow passed on the information to Israeli diplomats in the U.S.
Washington Post: Trial is wrong
Ahead of the trial, the Washington Post posted an editorial on Thursday called Dangerous Prosecution. The paper argued that the United States has no law banning citizens from disclosing information the government wants to keep secret.
The paper argues that by trying Rosen and Weissman the Justice Department has created a law of its own without seeking Congress approval to change existing secrecy laws. “Their conviction would herald a dangerous aggrandizement of the government's power not merely to prosecute leaks but to force ordinary Americans to keep its secrets,” read the editorial.
