Friday, December 18, 2009
Couldn't happen to a nicer guy: Yeshayahu Leibowitz's grandson pleads guilty to leaking FBI documents
Samuel Shamai Leibowitz, former contract linguist for FBI, admits handing over five secret documents concerning US communication intelligence activities to blogger; calls 20-month prison term 'appropriate'
A former contract linguist for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) pleaded guilty on Thursday to leaking classified documents to an Internet blogger, the Justice Department said.
Shamai Kedem Leibowitz of Silver Spring, Maryland, who is the grandson of renowned Israeli philosopher Yeshayahu Leibowitz, pleaded guilty in a federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland, to one count of disclosing classified information to an unauthorized person, the department said in a statement.
Leibowitz, 39, also known as Samuel Shamai Leibowitz, acknowledged handing over five FBI documents concerning the communication intelligence activities of the United States to the blogger, who was not identified.
The blogger then published information online derived from the documents, which were classified as "secret," the Justice Department said.
The department said prosecutors and Leibowitz had agreed that a 20-month prison term was the "appropriate sentence" in the case. The plea agreement and sentence remain subject to the approval of the court...
Leibowitz worked for the New Israel Fund [Update: See clarification in comment below.], he was on Marwan Barghouti's (the terrorist) defense team, refused to serve in the IDF, and here in the Boston area lent himself as a tool of the Somerville Divestment Project, writing letters, op-eds, and giving presentations in favor of divestment from Israel. Here's one email shared by an approving Somerville pol, Denise Provost, lamenting Somerville's vote against divestment:
Dear Denise,
As an Israeli, I would like to convey to you my gratitude for trying so hard to pass a selective divestment resolution. I am sorry that my presentation was so short, and that in the end, the other Aldermen capitulated under pressure. In university jargon, we would say: you get an E for Effort...
I am very disappointed with the outcome, and I hope that those Aldermen that buried the resolution will come to realize what a grave mistake they made. They are using Somerville residents' money to help continue the practice of torture, home demolitions, bombing of civilians, and severe humiliation. I never knew that cities can have money invested in foreign countries, and that Somerville's money is invested in the terrible war crimes committed by the Israeli army, destroying prospects for peace for many years to come. I am so angry at them.
I hope they understand they have dealt a severe blow to peace and justice in Israel/Palestine. I also hope that the citizens of Somerville remember their cowardly and shameful behavior on election day, and show them the way out of office.
More and more Israelis are now calling for divestement. Below is a very well-written and illuminating article by Israeli Oren Medics. I hope that it is informative to you, and it strengthens your efforts.
http://www.redress.btinternet.co.uk/omedicks3.htm
best regards,
Shamai Leibowitz
***********************************
Shamai K. Leibowitz
New Israel Fund Law Fellow
LLM Candidate, International Legal Studies Program
American University
Here's an old post at Imshin's regarding his behavior in court defending Barghouti: No longer welcome in synagogues
..."The relative tranquility inside the courtroom was at one point punctuated by loud guffaws from the audience when Leibowitz compared Barghouti, accused of orchestrating attacks in which 26 Israelis were killed, to the biblical Moses. "Moses, too, did not recognize the Egyptians' jurisdiction to try him and fled the country," said Leibowitz, a grandson of the late biblical scholar Yeshayahu Leibowitz.
Quoting Exodus, he continued: "Moses saw cruel occupation and he killed the Egyptian and left him in the sand." A patient (Judge) Gurfinkel carefully retorted "but Moses killed an Egyptian taskmaster who was beating an Israelite, not just any innocent Egyptian.""...
His own nature finally caught up with him.
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Anti-Israel Israeli Shamai Leibowitz Sentenced to Jail.
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Couldn't happen to a nicer guy: Yeshayahu Leibowitz's grandson pleads guilty to leaking FBI documents Samuel Shamai Leibowitz, former contract linguist for FBI, admits handing over five secret documents concerning US communication intelligence activiti... Read More
The FBI has egg on its face over this. At the very least, a Google search would have quickly uncovered, as one person in this Politico report is quoted as saying, that Leibowitz was a "character" (or suffered a lack... Read More
I was browsing about Jeffrey Goldberg's Atlantic blog last night and noted a few things I wanted to comment on. I generally like Goldberg's material, though his left-lean sometimes colors things in a way I don't agree with, he's well... Read More
Shamai Leibowitz never worked for the New Israel Fund. He was a Law Fellow in our joint program with American University school of law for a year and was asked to leave the program, which he did.
-- NaomiP
Communications Director, New Israel Fund
Thank you for the clarification, Naomi. I'm glad to hear the NIF at least has the sense to want to keep a distance from the likes of Leibowitz.
I will only support the JNF - Jewish National Fund.
I'm still waiting for Salaam Now, Bet Salaam - a grass roots Arab/Muslim Peace group to appear.
NIF is as misleading as J-Street.
JNF is awesome! Check out the indoor playground in Sderot that they built: (yes, off topic, but cool video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpZX7u8Z19o
Shamai Leibowitz was at American University on a full scholarship as a NIF Fellow at a time of his divestment activism in Somerville, MA. It was on NIF dime that Leibowitz traveled to Boston at that time and worked as a spokesperson for the Somerville Divestment Project.
During that period, Larry Garber, then new NIF director, had an appearance at Harvard University. During the Q&A period, he was specifically asked about Leibowitz' divestment activism in Somerville. Garber acknowledged his familiarity with Leibowitz' activities, but expressed not an iota of concern or a disagreement.
It was only much later, after the damage was already done, that NIF leadership changed its tune somewhat under the pressure from the Boston Jewish Community.
Get a load of this one, folks:
"Yes to cooperation. No to boycotts"
By SHAMAI LEIBOWITZ
Jun 19, 2006
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1150355527812&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull
"... AS a Jew committed to peace and security for both Israelis and Palestinians, I believe that BDS strategy is a grave mistake. ... INSTEAD OF boycotting and sanctioning Israel, peace-oriented groups should invest in creative ways to build bridges of confidence and trust that will eventually mature into legally-binding agreements."
Now, let's see what he wrote in that earlier e-mail to Denise Provost, Somerville's pro-divestment Alder(wo)man (see this post), "lamenting Somerville's vote against divestment" -- sorry to have to repeat this, but it will serve as an illustration, which should further rub in the point I am trying to make:
"Dear Denise,
As an Israeli, I would like to convey to you my gratitude for trying so hard to pass a selective divestment resolution. I am sorry that ... in the end, the other Aldermen capitulated under pressure. ...
I am very disappointed with the outcome, and I hope that those Aldermen that buried the resolution will come to realize what a grave mistake they made. They are using Somerville residents' money to help continue the practice of torture, home demolitions, bombing of civilians, and severe humiliation. I never knew that cities can have money invested in foreign countries, and that Somerville's money is invested in the terrible war crimes committed by the Israeli army, destroying prospects for peace for many years to come. I am so angry at them.
I hope they understand they have dealt a severe blow to peace and justice in Israel/Palestine. I also hope that the citizens of Somerville remember their cowardly and shameful behavior on election day, and show them the way out of office. ...
best regards,
Shamai Leibowitz"
Can you believe this crap? How do you spell h y p o c r i t e ?
Oh, but wait, here is his disclaimer in that JPost article:
"While at one time I thought there was some efficacy in BDS as a means of nudging the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into the processing of peace, I now see that BDS is not the magic bullet people hoped it would be. There are a number of reasons why I have altered my views."
Then he goes into some lame and fake-sounding excuses, topping them off with this gem:
"... while there is much to improve and correct in Israeli society, the idea of economic punishment of a whole society because of actions of members of that society is neither justified philosophically nor feasible practically.
Having discussed these issues with policy-makers in Washington DC, it is clear to me that Israel's strong and vibrant economy will never be seriously affected by boycotts of civil-society groups. Regardless of how many interest groups join this campaign, it will not affect political change because the US government will continue to provide Israel with $2.5 billion in annual aid.
Rather than affect political change, it is more likely the BDS campaign will alienate world Jewry, triggering a closing of the ranks and preventing any significant change."
So, just like some 'peace-minded' Palestinian Arab leaders (such as Sari Nusseibeh and Mahmoud Abbas), who decided to opt for peaceful negotiations instead of armed struggle, because not only was it not getting them anywhere , but was even doing the Arabs more harm than good, thus suggesting to change the tactics (but hardly the goal), our despicable brethren Shamai does pretty much the same thing: he now says that BDS (sadly and regrettably) didn't work, and therefore the tactics of dealing with evil Israel should be changed.
Nice job, Shamai. You learned well from your Arab handlers and devious propaganda masters, you duplicitous, treacherous and evil scumbag. Your license to practice the law in the U.S. and Israel should be permanently revoked, and you should spend the rest of your unproductive and useless life sharing a tiny room (a jail cell would be even better) with the likes of Norman Finkelstein, Ilan Pappe and Noam Chomsky -- who knows, maybe you will even devour each other after a while, thus ridding the world of much harm.
P.S. But wait, wait, that's not all -- this sensitive vermin finishes off his disgusting diatribe with this pearl of tree-hugging Kumbaya:
"BDS can actually be a wonderful idea, provided the BDS of Boycotts, Divestments and Sanctions changes to the BDS of Bilateral Doubling of Support for joint peace-oriented groups."
Ugh ... Dunno 'bout you, folks, but I'm ready to vomit ...
It is sad. A father of two young children, a talented man with a constant smile on his face, who seems to have lost the way. Craving fame and attention he chose to be extreme, and now he is at the criminal zone, and not defending others, but being marked as a criminal himself. So sad.