U.S. Drops Case Against Egyptian Director of Arab Information Center

The U.S. government has quietly dropped its case against Amin Hilmy II, the Egyptian director of the Arab Information Center in New York after the State Department reversed its position and decided he has diplomatic immunity, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency has learned at the State and Justice Departments.

The Center, which issues slick propaganda glorifying the Palestine Liberation Organization and seeking to discredit Israel, is being used by the Department of Justice in federal court on charges of violating the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Specifically, the Justice Department charges in its suit that the Center’s advertisements last year that featured the anti-Zionist resolution adopted in the UN General Assembly were not identified as coming from the Center. Such identification is mandatory under U.S. law. The Department also charged the Center had refused to allow agents of the Justice Department to inspect its books, correspondence and financial records.

Hilmy was sued along with the organization. He is a permanent observer of the Arab League at the UN, the State Department said. The Department backed Justice in February but in September the State Department ruled, according to a Department source, that Hilmy also is a member of the Egyptian delegation to the UN and is therefore entitled to diplomatic immunity. Justice thereupon dismissed the charges against him and he is continuing at the helm of the Center’s operations.

The case against the Center is scheduled to be aired Jan. 18. Government sources indicated to the JTA that with Hilmy no longer a defendant the case probably will be concluded with a consent decree in which the Center will agree to abide by the regulations in the future.