It was interesting time for a senior delegation of Israel Police commanders to visit the Anti-Defamation headquarters in New York.

The delegation, headed by Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino visited the headquarters on April 19, just days after the Boston Marathon bombing. The meeting had been planned already before the bombing.

The ADL, in a press release, said the meeting “helped deepen the Israel Police’s understanding of the breadth and scope of ADL’s work with American law enforcement on such issues as countering extremism, domestic terrorism and hate crimes. ”

ADL has been known to work closely with law enforcement agencies like the FBI and ATF.

The Israeli delegation met with Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Directo, and various ADL experts on law enforcement.

“The Israel Police continue to play an important role in working closely with counterterrorism experts to share their insights with American police commanders,” Foxman said in a statement. “As we were reminded by the Boston Marathon attack, terrorism knows no borders, and we are fortunate that Israel Police officials are willing to work alongside us and share best practices in counterterrorism with their American counterparts.”

Jonathan Pollard/wikipedia

President Obama’s visit to Israel is stirring up a longstanding, sensitive issue involving Jonathan Pollard, who spied for Israel while working for U.S. Naval intelligence.

Seymour D. Reich, a lawyer and former chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, writes this week in a letter to the editor of the New York Times that “the treatment of Jonathan Jay Pollard has smacked of vindictiveness.”

He writes that President Obama should set Pollard free on humanitarian grounds when he returns from Israel.

He notes that the “usual prison sentence for spying for friendly countries is four to five years.”

He writes:

“Mr. Pollard was initially incarcerated in a hospital for the criminally insane, though he was not insane. It was only when former Representative Lee Hamilton intervened that Mr. Pollard was moved out — to a maximum-security prison in Illinois, where he was held in solitary confinement for almost seven years. When Elie Wiesel and I visited him there, he expressed remorse for his deeds and has done so publicly since.

As you report, he has served for 28 years, and “a growing number” of former American officials “have called for clemency.”

 

Steve Neavling

The Justice Department is leading an investigation to determine if Rep. Michael Grimm, R-N.Y., a former FBI agent, violated the law when he solicited campaign cash from foreign nationals in exchange for helping an Israeli obtain a green card, USA Today reports.

The House Ethics Committee voted unanimously to hand the probe over to the Justice Department to investigate.

Grimm, of Staten Island, referred questions to his attorney, William McGinley.

“We appreciate the committee’s decision to defer consideration of this matter while we continue to work with the Department of Justice to favorably resolve the false allegations against Congressman Grimm,” McGinley said in a statement. “Any fair and objective review of all of the facts in this matter will conclude that Congressman Grimm engaged in no wrongdoing. We are confident that the Department of Justice and the Ethics Committee will reach that result.”

Steve Neavling

 It’s said that Jesus walked on the Sea of Galilee.

Now the FBI is investigating reports that Republican lawmakers took an inebriated, late-night dip – one of the them in the nude – in the holy waters, the New York Daily News reports.

Rep. Kevin Yoder, R-Kan., admitted to diving into the sea in the buff Aug 18 while on a fact-finding mission to Israel.

The swim followed an alcohol-fueled dinner, the Daily News reported. Sources told Politico that the FBI has yet to uncover anything that would warrant criminal charges.

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More info is leaking out about the virus aimed at Iran’s nuclear program.

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that the U.S. and Israel jointly developed the Flame computer virus that collected intelligence to help slowdown the nuclear program.

To read more click here.

U.S. law enforcement officials continue to trek to Israel to learn a thing or two about dealing with terrorism and homeland security.

The latest group included Assistant D.C. police chief Diane Groomes and U.S. Park Police Deputy Chief Robert MacLean of the U.S. Park Police, the Associated Press reported.

The week-long trip, completed last month, was sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League as part of of an ongoing program to show American authorities how Israel deals with the ongoing threats.

AP reported that D.C. cop Groomes was impressed show the Israeli national police force responds to a disaster and how accepting Israelis are of the security precautions taken in that country.

“I was just struck by how they can handle a scene, process and clear it and plant within it” in hours, Groomes told AP. “If we had a bomb on a bus, it would take us maybe a day or to handle. They said they just want life to go back to normal as soon as possible.”

By Danny Fenster

A series of “suspicious letters” with white powder have been turning up at several Israeli consulates over the past few days, reports the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

“There’s a lot of white powder letters that are going to Israeli consulates around the country,” Chris Allen of the FBI said late Tuesday. “There may be more out there.”

The threats seem more about fear considering that the powder so far has been harmless, Allen told the Journal. He would not comment on exactly how many other cases are under investigation.

“All of the ones we’re aware of have been field tested and are negative,” Allen said. “Anyone who came in contact with it is asymptomatic.”

To read more click here.

By Danny Fenster

Elliot Doxer has become Massachusetts’ first ever individual prosecuted for foreign economic espionage, according to a statement from the FBI.

Doxer was sentenced to six months in prison and six months of home confinement and electronic monitoring on Tuesday, as well as fined $25,000, after providing trade secrets to an undercover agent posing as an Israeli intelligence officer. Doxer  had previously plead guilty.

Doxer sent an e-mail to the folks at the  Boston’s Israeli Consulate in June of 2006 telling them he worked for the company Akamai Technologies, Inc., in the finance department, and wanted to provide whatever information he could “to help our homeland and our war against our enemies,” according to the statement. Doxer also asked to be paid for the risks he was taking.

A federal agents posing as an Israeli intelligence officer spoke to Doxer in Sept, 2007, establishing a “dead drop” where the two could exchange information. Doxer visited the dead drop at least 62 times between Oct. 2007 and March 2009, leaving information and checking for new communications.

Doxer provided the undercover agent with a list of the company’s customers, contracts with those customers, a full list of the company’s employees, with positions and contact information, and a broad description of the company’s physical and computer security systems. He also said he could travel to Israel or support special operations at home.

“We acknowledge the Government of Israel for their cooperation in this investigation, and underscore that the Information does not allege that the government of Israel or anyone acting on its behalf committed any offense under U.S. laws in this case,” said the FBI statement.