Congressional Intervention?
Jewish Army engineer cleared of spying presses his religious discrimination claim.
mation.
Morganroth scoffed at that
defense and accused the govern-
ment of invoking the state
ithin 24 hours after the U.S.
secrets doctrine as a mask for
Supreme Court's rejection
religious discrimination, point-
Monday, Nov. 29, of an appeal
ing to the fact that "both the
from Southfield resident David
Department of Justice and the
Tenenbaum, his lawyers said U.S. Sen.
FBI stated in writing that no
Carl Levin, D-Mich., "is going to get
evidence existed against
involved" in the long-running religious
Tenenbaum and that if any evi-
discrimination case. The Jewish civilian
dence had existed, the FBI
Army engineer was wrongfully accused in
would have found it due to the
1997 of spying for Israel.
David Tenenbaum
thoroughness of its investiga-
According to attorney Mayer
tion."
Morganroth of Morganroth &
Tenenbaum filed suit against several of his
Morganroth, PLLC of Southfield, Tenenbaum, an
accusers in 1998, stating his accusers were moti-
Orthodox Jew who is fluent in Hebrew, may now
vated by anti-Semitism. The government claimed
find redress through Congress rather than
its employees were unable to defend themselves
through the judiciary. "This case needs to be
without divulging classified materials.
resolved on its merits," Morganroth said.
Paul Wolfowitz, currently deputy secretary of
Morganroth said that Levin, the ranking
defense and one of the most prominent Jews in
Democrat on the Senate Armed Services
the Bush administration, wrote that revealing
Committee, "expressed an interest in drafting a
material relevant to Tenenbaum's case could cause
bill that would provide Tenenbaum with compen-
serious damage to the national security."
sation and would address problems of religious
A federal district court agreed in 2002 and the
discrimination in military classification."
decision was upheld in May by the Sixth Circuit
However, Levin's press secretary, Tara Andringa,
Court of Appeals. The request to the Supreme
would only confirm that Tenenbaum's attorneys
Court was the last step in the judicial process.
"have been in contact with us. We are looking
into it, but we will have no comment today," she
said on Tuesday.
Information Under Wraps
Tenenbaum acknowledged to the Jewish News
Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter A. Caplan said both
that he and his family `went into debt over this
of the lower courts were given the information
thing." He continues to work as an engineer at
the government wanted to keep under wraps.
the U.S. Army Tank Automotive and Armaments
After careful examination, he said, they agreed
Command in Warren.
with Wolfowitz.
By declining to consider arguments in
"These were the conclusions of two courts -in
Tenenbaum's discrimination case, the high court
this case. It is not the result of unilateral executive
effectively upheld the decision by two lower fed-
department decision-making. The courts play a
eral courts that dismissed the case on the grounds
role in this case, and are able to see and evaluate
that the U.S. government was unable to mount a
the data," said Caplan.
proper defense to the allegations of anti-Semitism
Morganroth called Caplan's comments "unbe-
without revealing sensitive national security infor-
ALAN AB RAMS
Special to the Jewish News
W
"
Jews Denounce Divestment
New York/JTA — American Jewish
organizations asked Protestant leaders
to reject divestment from Israel. Five
Jewish agencies released a statement
Tuesday asking Protestant leaders to
focus on alternative ways to promote
a two-state solution to the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict. The statement
came in response to an October meet-
ing with Protestant leaders, who asked
for an explanation as to why Jews
12/ 3
2004
16
oppose divestment.
"Far too often, our Christian broth-
ers and sisters, most particularly the
mainline Protestant denominations,
have remained too silent in the face of
this persistent hatred, rejection, and
violence aimed at Israel," the Jewish
leaders wrote in a letter Monday.
"Divestment efforts that are not uni-
versally applied but rather focused
uniquely on Israel, no matter how
nuanced and explained, smack of dis-
crimination," the letter states, adding
lievable for two reasons. First, we were never
allowed to see what documents were provided to
the courts — which could not have been relevant
to the case in any event based upon the
Department of Justice's and FBI's conclusions that
no evidence existed against Tenenbaum.
"Second, there were secret administrative hear-
ings held over Tenenbaum's security clearance in
which the government defended itself and
Tenenbaum's accusers, which resulted in
Tenenbaum's 'secret' clearance not only being
restored, but in Tenenbaum also being granted a
`top secret' clearance.
"If Tenenbaum's accusers could not even prevail
in secret hearings conducted by the government,
how could they prevail in a public court?"
The Tenenbaum case made headlines in 1997,
when Tenenbaum allegedly admitted in a poly-
graph test that he had inadvertently shared classi-
fied documents with Israeli military officials, a
charge Tenenbaum's lawyer disputes. The FBI and
U.S. Army investigated Tenenbaum several times,
even raiding his home on Shabbat.
Morganroth said Tenenbaum was investigated
for 11 years and was falsely accused of spying for
Israel because of his close ties to Israeli officials in
Michigan.
Some saw the case as a reverberation of anti-
Israel and anti-Jewish bias in government follow-
ing the conviction of Jonathan Pollard, a U.S.
Navy analyst sentenced in 1987 to life in prison
for spying for Israel.
American Jewish groups have been reluctant to
get involved in the case, acknowledging the legiti-
macy of the state-secrets doctrine. "It's somewhat
troublesome, but there may not be any way
around it," said Marc Stern, the American Jewish
Congress' general counsel. "The question is how
to make sure the provision is not used improperly,
to cover religious discrimination. ❑
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency contributed to this
report.
that the move "provokes extremism
from all sides."
The letter was signed by representa-
tives of the American Jewish
Committee, the Jewish Council for
Public Affairs, the Anti-Defamation
League, the Union for Reform
Judaism and the United Synagogue of
Conservative Judaism.
Exclusion Bill Blocked
Jerusalem/JTA— A bill that would
allow the creation of Jews-only towns
in Israel was defeated in the Knesset.
The legislation offered by Zvi Hendel
of the National Union bloc failed
Wednesday by a vote of 40-38.
"A Parliament of the Jewish people
cannot ratify a law that would segre-
gate on the basis of religion or nation-
ality, something Jews have fought
throughout the generations," Justice
Minister Yosef "Tommy" Lapid,
leader of the Shinui Party, told
reporters.