(Washington Post) The American Israel Public Affairs Committee charged Tuesday in a letter to supporters that the "very essence" of relations between the U.S. and Israel is under assault as a result of reports that the FBI is investigating whether AIPAC officials passed classified information to Israel. The letter strongly denies involvement in criminal activity or receipt of secret intelligence information by the organization or its employees, calling the allegations "false and baseless." In the letter, AIPAC President Bernice Manocherian and Executive Director Howard Kohr said the group will not "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 officials who work for them." "What we've had is the criminalization of the foreign policy debate. There are accusations being floated around more often based on policy disagreement rather than fact," said Michael Rubin, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a former Iran and Iraq specialist in the Pentagon's policy office. Israeli Ambassador Daniel Ayalon said that the investigation was the result of either malicious intent or "some incompetence of not understanding reality," a reference to long-standing U.S.-Israeli cooperation.
2004-09-08 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive