FBI Widens Probe of AIPAC

WASHINGTON, 26 November 2006 — A startling new report claims that the federal investigation into the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobbying organization, has been expanded to include suspicion of meddling in affairs of the House Intelligence Committee.

The report follows two new surveys that criticize Israel and the role that the pro-Israel lobby plays in shaping American foreign policy.

A recent poll by Zogby International found Americans almost evenly split on whether the pro-Israel lobby was a key factor in influencing the Bush Administration to invade Iraq and take a tough stand against Iran’s nuclear program. A poll commissioned by the Council for the National Interest and conducted by Zogby International found that 39 percent agreed with the statement that “the work of the Israel lobby on Congress and the Bush Administration has been a key factor for going to war in Iraq and now confronting Iran” — areas in which public support for military action has dropped dramatically. Forty percent disagreed with the statement.

In a separate study exploring the views of faculty members at American universities, a significant percentage of scholars identified United States’ link to Israel as a serious threat to global stability.”

Shortly after the surveys were released, Time magazine posted an article on its website alleging that the FBI is investigating claims of an improper deal between AIPAC and Rep. Jane Harman of California, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.

According to the report, the deal alleged that, in the event Democrats took control of Congress, AIPAC would lobby for Harman to become the chair of that committee. In return, she would be expected to press the White House and Justice Department to go easy on Keith Weisman and Steven Rosen, the two former AIPAC executives who are being prosecuted under the Espionage Act for allegedly communicating classified information to Israeli diplomats.

Washington insiders are downplaying the likelihood that an investigation regarding Harman and AIPAC would lead to any formal charges of wrongdoing. But the allegations — along with the upcoming trial of Rosen and Weisman, and the recent book deal signed by two of the pro-Israel lobby’s most prominent and vocal critics, scholars Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer — are likely to trigger increased media and public scrutiny of the pro-Israel lobby’s efforts to influence the decision-making process in Washington.

According to Time, AIPAC allegedly agreed to get wealthy donors to lobby House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to appoint Harman to the post.

Federal officials told The New York Times that such an investigation had indeed been opened, although they said that the inquiry was “no longer being actively pursued.”

- By Barbara Ferguson, Arab News
www.zogbyworldwide.com/sb/Readsb.cfm