Israelis won't testify in AIPAC trial

The three Israeli diplomats who were in touch with former AIPAC staffers now standing trial in Virginia are unwilling to cooperate with defense attorneys and do not intend to agree to come and testify in the case.

In a court hearing on September 19 at the US District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, Judge T.S. Ellis asked attorney Abbe Lowell, who is representing Steve Rosen, the former policy director of AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee), if he intends to summon any foreign nationals to testify in court. The term "foreign nationals" in this case refers to Israelis, who were mentioned in the indictment as having contacts with Rosen and with the second defendant, Keith Weissman, a former Iran specialist at AIPAC.

Lowell told Judge Ellis that he has been in touch with attorneys for the Israelis and that his impression is that it will be difficult to get them to testify.

"They are not going to make this very easy," Lowell told the court.

The indictment, accusing Rosen and Weissman of conspiring to communicate classified information, mentioned three "foreign officials" that received information from the two former AIPAC employees as well as from the third defendant in the case, Pentagon analyst Larry Franklin. Though the they were not named in the legal documents, Israeli and US sources confirmed that two of the Israelis involved in the case are Naor Gilon, who was the political officer in the Israeli embassy in Washington, and Rafi Barak, who served as the Deputy Chief of Mission. US sources said the third Israeli is presumed to be a representative of the military intelligence in Washington, but his identity was not confirmed by other sources.

All three Israelis are no longer in Washington and all have diplomatic immunity, which prevents them from being subpoenaed by either side in the case.