What are the government’s motives in the AIPAC case?

washington (jta) | The admission by Mideast analyst Kenneth Pollack that he is one of two U.S. government officials referenced in the indictment against two former staffers of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee opens up new questions about the government's motives in pursuing the case.

Neither Pollack nor the other unnamed government official — identified by sources as David Satterfield, a former deputy assistant secretary of state — has been charged with a crime. That has raised questions about the government's case against Steve Rosen, Keith Weissman and Larry Franklin, a former Pentagon analyst accused of passing classified information to the AIPAC staffers.

The new revelations are likely to intensify speculation in Washington that Rosen and Weissman are being targeted for conducting the normal Washington practice of trading sensitive information.

Supporters of Rosen and Weissman in the Jewish community argue that if the people who allegedly gave them the sensitive material aren't in trouble, then the information Rosen and Weissman are accused of passing to journalists and three officials at the Israeli Embassy in Washington can hardly warrant their prosecution.