WASHINGTON (JTA) — Steve Rosen, former foreign policy chief at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, asked an appeals court to reinstate his defamation suit against his former employer.
Rosen’s appeal, filed Monday in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, challenges the decision in February by the District’s Superior Court to dismiss the case.
The judge in that decision said that AIPAC’s allegedly defamatory statement, that Rosen did not "comport" with its standards, was unprovable because it did not "rest on objectively verifiable facts."
Rosen, in his appeal, says he would be able to prove in court that AIPAC did not have standards. Furthermore, he would show that AIPAC had previously protected him and others for having handled classified information, the ostensible issue leading to his firing, along with Iran analyst Keith Weissman.
The government in 2009 dropped related charges it had brought in 2005 against Rosen and Weissman.
An AIPAC spokesman declined comment on the appeal.
