It’s hard to believe that AIPAC did anything wrong.
What’s worrisome is that a grand jury is unlikely to understand the thin line the American Israel Public Affairs Committee walks in dealing with the U.S. government.
AIPAC is registered as a lobby on Capitol Hill; that means it can lobby senators and representatives on behalf of Israel.
But AIPAC doesn’t represent the Israeli government. Instead, its clients are American Jews who support the Israeli government regardless of the prime minister or the party in power.
Murky isn’t it? Just think how a grand jury might react when a federal prosecutor argues on behalf of an indictment.
Nobody knows for sure that the Justice Department is gunning for AIPAC. But the more information that is leaked, the more it sounds like AIPAC’s lawyers will have their work cut out for them.
It appears as if the FBI is treating AIPAC lobbyists as if they were spies for Israel.
According to what’s been leaked of the investigation, AIPAC is being accused of receiving briefings from U.S. officials and turning the information over to Israel.
So what’s wrong with that? The American Jews who belong to AIPAC would expect AIPAC’s staff to keep Israeli officials informed on important information gleaned in Washington.
However, that cannot involve the transmission of classified information.
If federal employees are giving AIPAC classified documents, they should be prosecuted, not AIPAC — unless AIPAC’s staff knows it is passing on classified information.
Perhaps even more worrisome is that the U.S. government may have entrapped AIPAC in a sting operation. The Jerusalem Post claimed in a story this week that the FBI asked a federal employee to give intelligence information to AIPAC to see if it would be transmitted to Israel.
Did AIPAC pass that information on, knowing it was classified, or did AIPAC have no idea of its origin? We can’t answer that. But the grand jury will soon be hearing from AIPAC officials who can tell their side of the story.
AIPAC has weathered similar accusations and investigations before. Because the organization operates under a microscope, it is generally extra careful.
Could AIPAC have done something wrong this time? We have our doubts. Let’s hope that the FBI isn’t being too exuberant in its endless efforts to find spies for Israel in America.