AIPAC isn’t asking questions in the aftermath of its shameful role in this affair. Franklin says its influence on U.S. policy is exaggerated, which is surely the case, as it employs public displays aimed at convincing gullible Jews that it is a powerhouse. As Franklin puts it, “less visible but more powerful are the many instruments of Saudi Arabia’s influence over U.S. policy.”
The primary issue we should face is not AIPAC’s influence. It is the hostility of the intelligence community to Israel and Jews. The AIPAC prosecution should have evoked alarm; it did not. We now have Franklin’s interviews, with the explosive charge of anti-Semitism. Why are we Jews of silence? If a Dreyfus Affair were to occur on these shores, I fear we would be timid and mute.