[Just World News] Nozette: Pollard, 2.0?

Helena Cobban writes:

So, Obama's Justice Department has finally decided to play some degree of hardball with Israel?

Back in May, Obama's Justice Department decided to back down on the indictment against AIPAC's Steve Rosen.

Last month, Obama's special peace envoy, George Mitchell, apparently decided to back down on pushing Netanyahu for "the settlement freeze."

So make no mistake: This decision that the Justice Department announced today, to issue an indictment against a US citizen who was apparently quite ready to betray US national secrets to someone he thought to be an agent of the government of Israel, is a big development.

[To read the entire article, click here.]

The story may not mean exactly what Helena thinks, but the comment discussion quickly became of discussion of FBI/DOJ use of entrapment.

Here is my comment that did not pass the filter:

Obviously there are many issues that cast doubt on sting operations.

My wife Karin Friedemann and I have been covering US government persecution of Muslim Americans via provocation operations: [Khaleej Times] US Charities Paying for Sending Aid to Palestinians.

As long as the informant is flypaper, a sting operation may be valid tool for law enforcement, but when the informant becomes a provocateur, the operation has probably crossed the line, but I have to concede that in trying to catch a professional killer the line between flypaper and provocation is very fuzzy.

In the Hemant Lakhani case, former US Attorney Christie almost certainly crossed the line.

From the standpoint of restoring US government legitimacy at home and abroad, playing hardball with the Israeli government is not nearly as important as slapping down the Israel Lobby hard.

As long as the US Treasury department and President Obama's economic team look like a division of the American Jewish Committee, any rational observer has to consider the US government a dependent and intimidated client of the Israel Lobby: Whither After Goldstone?.

In the triangular relationship between the US government, the Israel Lobby, and the State of Israel, the importance of understanding the true power relations cannot be overstated: Peninsulares versus Criollos.

Related Links

1. AO 91 Criminal Complaint
2. Counterintelligence - Espionage - Spy Case
3. American Moon scientist Stewart Nozette 'tried to spy for Israel'
4. Stewart Nozette (PICTURE): Scientist Arrested On Spy Charges Worked For Department Of Defense
5. Maryland Scientist Accused by U.S. of Trying to Spy for Israel
6. Maryland Scientist Charged with Attempted Espionage
7. Is Justice Department Targeting Israel?
8. Maryland Scientist Charged with Attempted Espionage
9. Folks, we have a problem here…or, J’ACCUSE!
10. Alleged Israeli Spy: ‘I Thought I Was Working for You Already’

Sphere: Related Content