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Franklin: Some FBI agents anti-Semitic

August 4, 2009

 WASHINGTON (JTA) -- The former Pentagon official at the center of the classified information case involving AIPAC staffers accused some FBI agents of displaying anti-Semitism.

Larry Franklin, an Iran analyst in 2004 when he helped the FBI set up a sting targeting Keith Weissman, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's former Iran analyst, and Steve Rosen, its former former policy chief, said some of his FBI handlers at times appeared to be motivated by hostility to Jews.

"One agent said to me, 'How can an Irish Catholic from the Bronx get mixed up with all these ...' and I finished the sentence for him: 'Jews?' " Franklin said in an interview published July 31by the Washington Times.

The FBI, which had caught Franklin removing classified information from the Pentagon to his West Virginia home and revealing classified information, co-opted him in its attempt to build a case against the lobbyists. Franklin wore a wire to lure Weissman and Rosen into the FBI sting.

Franklin told the Washington Times not all agents dealing with him were were anti-Semitic, but some asked him to identify Jews in the Pentagon. The FBI declined comment.

The government charged Rosen and Weissman with dealing in classified information in 2005 and also charged Franklin, despite his cooperation. He pleaded guilty.

This year, the government dropped its case against Rosen and Weissman. The federal judge in the case, T.S. Ellis III, reduced Franklin’s sentence from nearly 13 years to probation.

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