WASHINGTON: A veteran American diplomat has resigned as one of Barack Obama’s top intelligence officials over his strident criticisms of Israeli government policy.
Charles Freeman, a former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, withdrew before starting work as chairman of the national intelligence council, accusing his critics of libel and “utter disregard for the truth”.
The “Israel lobby”, he argued, was stifling any discussion of US policy options in the Middle East except those endorsed by “the ruling faction in Israeli politics” — a situation that could “ultimately threaten the existence of the state of Israel”.
His job would have involved producing national intelligence estimates, the documents intended to provide the president and senior policy-makers with an overview of security issues.
But members of Congress had questioned Freeman’s ability to carry out the task objectively, citing his view that until “Israeli violence against Palestinians” is halted, “it is utterly unrealistic to expect that Palestinians will stand down from violent resistance.”
The New York Democratic senator Chuck Schumer said Freeman’s statements against Israel were way over the top “and severely out of step with the administration.”
Freeman’s departure, hours after the national intelligence director, Dennis Blair, defended him before a Senate committee, signals how reluctant Obama may be to depart from Washington’s current policies toward Israel and the Palestinians.
Freeman’s critics noted that he was president of a Middle East think-tank and serves as an adviser to an oil company owned by the Chinese government. But Freeman said he had never sought money from, or been paid by, any overseas power.
