Posted on 07/24/2008 6:39:08 AM PDT by Alouette
(IsraelNN.com) A final report released by the U.S. Department of Defense finds that an Army engineer accused of spying for Israel over ten years ago was unfairly targeted because of his religion.
The Army engineer, David Tenenbaum, is an Orthodox Jew.
The U.S. government report did not specify any corrective action to be taken on behalf of Tenenbaum.
Harassed Amidst Accusations
The New York-based YeshivaWorldNews website reports that Tenenbaum was given a polygraph test in 1997 regarding charges of espionage, and that he was urged to confess to having spied for Israel. Among the harassment measures he experienced in this connection, he said, were: anti-Jewish epithets being shouted at him, the confiscation of his computer, the erasure of his name from the e-mail system at the military facility in Warren, Michigan where he worked, and the ransacking of his home by investigators.
YeshivaWorldNews, which has been tracking the story, reported that the FBI conducted a year-long criminal investigation against Tenenbaum, after which the Justice Department concluded that there was no basis on which to prosecute him.
Tenenbaum has maintained throughout the ordeal that he was persecuted merely because of his religion.
Senator Initiates Investigation
The Defense Department report vindicating his claims was initiated over two years ago at the behest of Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The report acknowledges that Mr. Tenenbaum was “the subject of inappropriate treatment by Department of the Army and Defense Investigative officials.” It noted negatively the government's use of a personnel security investigation “as a ruse for a counterintelligence investigation."
"Subjected to Unwelcome Scrutiny Because of His Faith" Most significantly, the report stated, “Mr. Tenenbaum’s religion was a factor in the decision that resulted in the inappropriate continuation [of the investigation]... We believe that Mr. Tenenbaum was subjected to unusual and unwelcome scrutiny because of his faith and ethnic background, a practice that would undoubtedly fit a definition of discrimination..."
Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, who represented Agudath Israel of America in pressing the government on the case, said that the report is a "historic disavowal by the Defense Department of the notion that religious Jews are somehow to be regarded, by virtue of their religion, as untrustworthy employees of the government.”
No Compensation, No Punishment
However, as noted, no compensation was determined for Tenenbaum, nor was there any indication that the perpetrators of the discrimination would be punished.
He has endured much suffering over the past ten years and there was never any evidence to show wrongdoing of any kind.
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Last time the issue of Israeli spying came up on FR I was villified for pointing this out. I find it awkward that Jewish/Israeli alleged spies are targeted, while outright treason by highest political and public circles to our Islamic/Communist enemies is tolerated and ignored. Something isn’t right.
The State Dept has a vested interest in putting a wedge between the US and Israel—they’d much rather we side with the Arabs. Hence, Muslims are coddled and Jews persecuted.
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I think these aggressive accusations against Jews are used as an opportunity for the government to say to islamists: “see, we’re going after the Jews, too, not just you guys.”
He sounds like a good man unjustly treated and gets not even a bloody apology for what he went through. May the Lord remember him and bless him.
Correct me if I'm confusing him with Adam Ciralsky, but wasn't evidence presented that he belonged to a Synagogue, attended a Jewish summer camp as a youth, was a bar Mitzvah as a child, and most incriminating of all traveled to Israel with his family post bar Mitzvah. Can't have any of that.
Follow the money.
David Tenenbaum was actually assigned to liase with Israelis, who were purchasing the M1 Abrams tank, because he speaks fluent Hebrew. Then the spooks complained because he was conversing with the customers in Hebrew (which he was requested to do) and even invited them to his home for Shabbat!
Oh the horror. Can’t have fraternizing with the customers.
I think so too!
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