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Replies to post #280432 on Tornado Alley (PROG)
05/28/18 6:38 PM
Clinton also cited clemency pleas he had received from Israeli government officials, including then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Rich had made substantial donations to Israeli charitable foundations over the years, and many senior Israeli officials, such as Shimon Peres and Ehud Olmert, argued on his behalf behind the scenes.[27] Many leading figures of the Jewish world such as Abraham Foxman, the head of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), whose organization had received over $250,000 from Rich over the years also wrote to President Clinton for Rich's controversial pardon. [28][29] Among other leading Jewish leaders writing to Clinton were Shlomo Ben-Ami, Israel’s former foreign minister; Michael Steinhardt, a philanthropist and CEO of Steinhardt Associates; and Rabbi Irving Greenberg, chairman of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, which oversees the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Although none of the figures other than Foxman were investigated for their support of Rich's pardon.
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Speculation about another rationale for Rich's pardon involved his alleged involvement with the Israeli intelligence community.[31][32] Rich reluctantly acknowledged in interviews with his biographer, Daniel Ammann, that he had assisted the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service,[4][12] a claim that Ammann said was confirmed by a former Israeli intelligence officer.[11] According to Ammann, Rich had helped finance the Mossad's operations and had supplied Israel with strategic amounts of Iranian oil through a secret oil pipeline.[4] The aide to Rich who had persuaded Denise Rich to personally ask President Clinton to review Rich's pardon request was a former chief of the Mossad, Avner Azulay.[23][33] Another former Mossad chief, Shabtai Shavit, had also urged Clinton to pardon Rich,[34] who he said had routinely allowed intelligence agents to use his offices around the world.[18]
[29]
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