Jewish Group, Activists Argue Over Surveillance Files

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith claims it has the same right as a journalist to withhold records it gathered on leftist pro-Palestinian and anti-apartheid activists.

The Jewish organization argued before an appellate court Wednesday that it should not have to comply with a judge's order to produce the documents to individuals who have sued the group for invasion of privacy.

The ADL is appealing a September order allowing 17 people to see material that the ADL gathered on individuals and organizations that supported Palestinian rights and opposed South Africa's former apartheid government.

The cases arose out of a 1992 seizure by San Francisco police of more than 10,000 ADL files. The ADL later paid $75,000 to settle a civil suit filed by the city accusing it of illegally obtaining confidential government documents.

A now-retired San Francisco police inspector, Tom Girard [sic],* also pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of illegally accessing the information.

Girard's ADL contact, Roy Bullock, acknowledged selling information to the South African government, then Israel's ally. The ADL said he did it on his own, but admitted that some of its information was shared with the Israeli government.

Police, who returned the documents to the ADL after the settlement, notified the plaintiffs that their names were in the files. The 17 contend the ADL illegally obtained confidential records from the state and blacklisted them among the organization's supporters.

The ADL denies having a blacklist and says it was merely keeping tabs on hate groups and terrorists.

"Courts say a government employee may be punished for violating a duty to keep information private, but if you are a journalist, you may not be punished" for receiving the information and sharing it with others, B'nai B'rith lawyer Stephen Bomse said Wednesday.

The plaintiffs' lawyer, former Congressman Pete McCloskey, said even if the ADL should be treated as a reporter, no journalist has the power "to invade privacy and transmit private records."

Bomse said there was no evidence of lawbreaking that would justify invading the group's files.

"The reason there may not be a scintilla of evidence is that your client has it and won't disclose it," replied Presiding Justice J. Anthony Kline.

A ruling from the appeals court is expected in December.

Copyright 1998 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

* AFIB EDITOR'S NOTE: It is worth noting that retired San Francisco cop Tom Gerard is a "former" CIA contract employee stationed in El Salvador during the 1980s. When he returned to a plum job in the SFPD's intelligence unit, Gerard spied on church- based Sanctuary groups and various Central American solidarity organizations such as CISPES. During the initial phase of the ADL spy scandal "investigation," police seized reams of material from Gerard's locker, including classified CIA manuals and more than 100 phone numbers sourced to the "International Activities Division - Special Activities Group," a department that directs CIA paramilitary operations worldwide. One manual bore the chilling title: "Biodata of Nominees to be Trained in Human Resource Exploitation (Interrogation) Course." Turned over to the FBI by former SF District Attorney Arlo Smith (a staunch ADL ally who declined to bring criminal charges against the erstwhile "civil rights" group), the material quietly vanished down the "national security" memory hole. In fact it was Gerard who provided ADL "spymaster" Roy Bullock entree to agents of South African state security. During this period the racist apartheid state launched clandestine operations against anti-apartheid activists. A score of murders and politically motivated attacks including bombings, "disappearances" and bizarre chemical- biological warfare "experiments" worthy of Dr. Mengele and the SS (amply documented by South Africa's Truth Commission), were the handiwork of South African military intelligence and Special Branch. Despite international sanctions against the apartheid state (which the ADL opposed), Israel sold arms, including advanced fighter aircraft to South Africa in support of US- sponsored proxy wars in Angola and Mozambique. One needn't be a rocket scientist to recognize the value of illegally-obtained, "plausibly-deniable" intelligence on policy critics for "end- users" such as Israel, El Salvador, South Africa or for that matter, the CIA and the FBI.

For additional background see:

Jane Hunter, Israeli Foreign Policy: South Africa and Central America, 1987, Boston, South End Press;
Andrew and Leslie Cockburn, Dangerous Liaison: The Inside Story of the U.S.-Israeli Covert Relationship, 1991, New York, Harper Perennial;
Abdeen Jabara, "The Anti-Defamation League: Civil Rights and Wrongs," Covert Action Quarterly, Washington, D.C., Number 45, Summer 1993;
Tom Burghardt, "The Public-Private Partnership: `Counterterrorism,' Right-Wing Spy Networks and the ADL," Toronto, Antifa Forum #2, Fall 1997, http://burn.ucsd.edu/~aff/Txtarchive/af2sidebar.html

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only.

[posted October 1, 1998]