AFP
Charging anti-Semitism, lawmaker calls for new head of AIPAC spy probe
Date: Wed Sep 29, 3:24 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - A US lawmaker demanded that the FBI (news - web sites) official heading a Pentagon (news - web sites) spy probe be replaced, alleging the agent has "a record of unfairly targeting Jews."
Congressman Robert Wexler made the charge in a letter to US President George W. Bush (news - web sites), calling for a probe into alleged anti-Semitic acts by David Szady, a senior FBI counterintelligence official leading the bureau's investigation of alleged espionage by the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
"I urge you to investigate Mr. Szady's purported anti-Semitic record ... and examine whether or not he should be leading this case," the letter released by the Florida Democrat's office.
"If these allegations are found to be true, I urge you to remove Mr. Szady from the AIPAC investigation, dismiss him from his post at the FBI and determine if anti-Semitic sentiment and unwarranted skepticism of Jews may have been the impetus for the AIPAC probe."
Wexler cited reports alleging that Szady has a "disturbing" history of blocking or delaying security clearances for Jewish employees and singling them out for minor security matters.
Anti-Semitism, he wrote in the letter, appears to have been the "driving force" for the probe into whether the lobbying group supplied US classified secrets to Israel.
US officials allege Pentagon aide Larry Franklin passed secrets to Israel using AIPAC as the conduit.
Franklin is an Iran specialist in the office of Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith, the third most senior civilian official at the Pentagon.
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