AIPAC sacks two officials allegedly involved affair

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has dismissed two senior officials who are suspected of being involved in receiving and passing on classified information from the US department of Defense to representatives of Israel. The two are Steve Rosen, the organization's policy director and the most prominent AIPAC official, and Keith Weissman, who dealt with issues related to Iran. The two have been accused of receiving classified information from Larry Franklin, a Pentagon policy analyst on the Iran desk, and passing it on to official Israeli representatives with whom they met. Previously, AIPAC had taken pains to give full backing to its officials, saying that nothing illegal was done. Yesterday, however, the group published a statement intimating that they had overstepped the rules. But Abe Lowell, the attorney representing Rosen and Weissman, released a statement saying: "They have not violated any US law or AIPAC policy." Shortly after that, Patrick Dorton, a spokesman for AIPAC, stated: "The statement made by Rosen and Weissman represents solely their view of the facts."