The Franklin/AIPAC Spy Case Page

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This page contains articles and background information about the recent accusations of espionage against Lawrence Franklin and the Jewish lobby group AIPAC. These accusations have been excessively hyped in the American media. Almost every mention of Franklin carries in its wake references (mainly negative and pejorative) to the case of Jonathan Pollard.

What is the connection between the Franklin/AIPAC Spy Scandal and the case of Jonathan Pollard? Why is the Pollard case always dredged up and paraded in the media every time the US accuses Israel of spying in the US? Why is this not done to any other country or any other ethnic individual when a new spy case breaks?

The Franklin/AIPAC Spy Scandal is deja vu all over again. Nothing has changed since Jonathan Pollard was arrested and railroaded into a life sentence two decades ago. Once again the US is limiting intelligence exchanges with Israel, effectively blind-siding her, just as it did leading up to the operation Pollard was involved in. Once again the US is rationalizing this betrayal of Israel in order to curry favor with the Arabs (see MENL article: CIA Reduces Exchange With Israel). And once again the US is hysterically trumpeting charges in the media against Jews, AIPAC and Israel, which upon critical examination, are simply not substantiated by any hard evidence.

The conclusion of a recent editorial in the Wall Street Journal (A Spy for Israel, 09/01/04) about Lawrence Franklin could just as easily have been written about Jonathan Pollard: "If the feds believe he committed a crime, he deserves to be charged in a court of law and given a chance to defend himself." Like Franklin, Jonathan Pollard has been tried in the court of public opinion, not in a court of law. The false charges of treason and damage to US national security which have repeatedly been leveled at Pollard, have always been in the media, never in a court of law where he could defend himself.

The Franklin/AIPAC Case and its high profile exposure in the media is a consequence of the failure of Israel and Jewish leaders to defend Israel and the Jewish community against attacks by US officials directed against them in the media via the mistreatment of Jonathan Pollard and the grossly exaggerated sentence he received. Jewish leaders' attempts to shift the blame for anti-Semitic attacks to Pollard, instead of dealing with the US officials who perpetrate them has led to a spate of other cases impugning Israel and the Jews, including the Mega Spy Scandal, the Defense Memo Affair, the Ciralsky and Tanenbaum cases, and now the Franklin/AIPAC Case.

For two decades Israel, the Mossad, and the American Jewish leaders have abandoned Jonathan Pollard to his fate, cutting him loose, denying him the most minimal support and assistance - even though he was officially recognized as a bona fide Israeli agent. Aside from some mild posturing for domestic consumption, Israel's actions and attitude have always sent a clear message to the Americans: Pollard is NOT one of us; do with him as you please.

Apparently they felt that in allowing the US to brutalize Pollard, the US would deal differently with them and the rest of the Jews. The only ones who were fooled by this monolithic Jewish betrayal of Pollard, were the Jews themselves. Those in the Administration and in the Defense and Intelligence agencies with a pro-Arab/anti-Israel agenda, regard Pollard as nothing more than a convenient tool which they use over and over again against Israel and the Jewish community.

After nearly two decades in prison, Jonathan continues to pay the price for the refusal of Israel and the American Jewish leaders to stand up for equal justice for one of their own. As long as they turn their backs on Jonathan, he will continue to be used to call into question Israel's reliability as an ally, and the trustworthiness of the American Jewish community.

The truth that both Israel and American Jews continue to bury is glaringly obvious: Jonathan did not cause the anti-Jewish sentiment in the US Defense and Intelligence community; he was one of its victims.

But avoiding the truth, does not mean that the Jews can avoid its consequences. As long as the Pollard case continues to fester, the same anti-Semitic elements that came after Jonathan with a vengeance out of all proportion to the offense he committed, will continue to come after Jews and Jewish organizations.

While it is too soon to draw any final conclusions about the Franklin/AIPAC case, the articles on this page help to draw the connection between the most recent US accusation of espionage against Israel with other such accusations in the recent past. All of these accusations received a great deal of press and then faded out, with no arrests made and no charges filed.

These articles also clearly reveal the fact that it is not just Israel which spies on the US, but that the US has repeatedly spied on Israel.

Another issue that repeatedly comes up in the articles is the timing of US accusations. A look at the timing and background of the various spy allegation episodes reveals that the US has always trumpeted its charges of espionage against Israel at very specific moments in time in order to serve other political goals or agendas. More often than not these allegations are timed to create pressure to force Israel to follow some US directive or policy which Israel might otherwise resist.

Links to related sub-pages follow the list of articles below.

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