U.S. Loses Appeal to Overturn Restrictions on Proof in Ex-AIPAC Staffers’ Case

U.S. Loses Appeal to Overturn Restrictions on Proof in Ex-AIPAC Staffers’ Case
An appeals court rejected the prosecution’s bid to overturn tough restrictions on what it must prove in the classified information case against two former American Israel Public Affairs Committee staffers.

The decision Tuesday by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., keeps in place orders by the federal judge trying the case. T.S. Ellis III had ruled that the prosecution must prove the information allegedly relayed to journalists, Israeli diplomats and colleagues by AIPAC’s Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman was “closely held” by the United States and potentially damaging to U.S. interests, and was relayed in bad faith.

Observers have predicted that the appellate court decision could lead the Obama administration to reconsider whether to go ahead with the case.

The three-judge appellate court panel called the U.S. government’s effort to overturn Ellis’ decision, handed down in 2006 in an opinion that rejected a defense motion to dismiss, as “improper.” Pretrial prosecution appeals in classified information cases are meant to strictly address questions of which classified evidence is admissible, the appeals court said, calling the attempt to reverse a major decision “piggybacking.”

“This appeal is limited to the evidentiary rulings” in an order Ellis handed down nearly a year ago determining admissible evidence, the appeals court said.

“This is a tremendous victory for the defendants,” said Baruch Weiss, who represents Weissman, AIPAC’S former Iran analyst.

Abbe Lowell, the attorney for Rosen, AIPAC’s former foreign policy chief, said the ruling “is just the latest confirmation that this is a misdirected case brought under a misdirected theory, where the government continues to be reminded that they are wrong.”

Prosecutors have suggested that Ellis’ restrictions on the 1917 statute create a high barrier to surmount in a trial that has been delayed multiple times over four years. It is now set for April 21.

They argued that the statute does not require proof of bad faith and that its baseline was that the release of the information might help a foreign government and not necessarily that it harmed the United States.

New Session of Knesset Opens
Israeli President Shimon Peres told the new Knesset during its opening session that “the demands of the hour must unite us.”

Peres addressed the Knesset Tuesday afternoon before individual members were sworn in.

Michael Eitan of the Likud Party, who is the longest-serving lawmaker in the new Knesset, was appointed acting speaker until an election is held for a new one.

Peres called on the Knesset to conclude peace negotiations with the Palestinians during this parliamentary tenure and complete a constitution. He also said the lawmakers must take immediate action on relations with Israeli Arabs and to treat them as equals.

“In the Declaration of Independence, we stated that all our citizens would have equal rights and equal obligations. To be equal also entails the equal right to be different,” Peres told the lawmakers. “We cannot change the past, but you can shape the future. This is your duty. Zionism has always preferred bold challenges to idleness and inactivity.”

Peres cautioned the lawmakers, “In your tenure, you will have the option to choose between easy inaction and painful decisions. Act, don’t delay, because if Israel doesn’t decide, others will try to make decisions against it.”

Israel Files Complaint With U.N. Over Katyushas
Israel filed an official complaint with the United Nations over the firing of Katyusha rockets from Lebanon.

The complaint, submitted Tuesday to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Security Council President Yukio Takasu by Israel’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations, demands that the Lebanese government and UNIFIL live up to their commitments in Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 second Lebanon war, and work harder to stop the flow of weapons into southern Lebanon.

The letter said that Israel holds the Lebanese government responsible for rockets fired into northern Israel, and that Israel reserves the right to self-defense.

A Katyusha rocket fired from Lebanon landed next to a house Feb. 21 in northern Israel, injuring three. A second rocket accidentally detonated in Lebanon.

Yiddish Literature Archive Goes Online
An archive of more than 10,000 works of modern Yiddish literature has gone online.

The collection of full texts, comprising the National Yiddish Book Center’s Steven Spielberg Digital Library, can be read, downloaded and printed free.

The project of putting 3 million pages online was undertaken by the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Mass., and the Internet Archive of San Francisco.

“It’s an historic moment for Yiddish culture,” said Aaron Lansky, founder and president of the nonprofit Yiddish Book Center. “The magnificent record of a civilization the Nazis sought to destroy has been brought fully into the 21st century.”

The collection includes original novels, stories, poetry, drama and nonfiction titles published in Yiddish over the past 150 years. Most out-of-print Yiddish works are already in the public domain.

Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive, said, “This is the first time a full literature of a people has been available online. We hope others follow the Yiddish Book Center’s pioneering example.”

For more information, visit www.yiddishbookcenter.org.

Death Camp Visits Forbidden, Rabbi Says
A prominent Zionist rabbi says it is forbidden to visit Nazi death camps.

Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, head of the Ateret Cohanim yeshiva in Jerusalem’s Muslim Quarter, urged Israeli schools to cancel their annual trips to the camps, saying they are forbidden since there is a halachic ban on leaving Israel and because they “provide livelihood to murderers.” Aviner made the statement in a religious journal in answer to a reader’s question.

In an interview with Ynet following the journal’s publication, he said, “I’m not busy holding a grudge against the Poles, but we shouldn’t provide livelihood to people who allowed death camps to be built on their land and who are now making a profit out of it.”

Leaving Israel is only permitted for the sake of a mitzvah, Aviner told Ynet in an interview published Tuesday, adding that many great rabbis have never visited the death camps in Poland. He said that educators have told him the educational value of the trips lasts about three weeks, Ynet reported.

Briefs courtesy Jewish Telegraphic Agency.