Pro-Israel U.S. Lobby Criticizes Secret Aid for Jerusalem Housing

The head of the leading pro-Israel lobby in Washington has criticized the Israeli government’s secret financing of Jewish housing in the Christian sector of Jerusalem, it was disclosed Tuesday night.

Thomas A. Dine, executive director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), questioned the timing of the move into the Christian quarter of East Jerusalem. Dine delivered his criticism to Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir through an emissary.

He told Shamir the Israeli government is “doing great harm” to Israel’s standing with the Bush Administration and the American public, sources said.

Although American Jewish groups frequently disagree on a wide range of issues, it is unusual for AIPAC objections to Israeli government action to be reported publicly.

The State Department on Monday sharply criticized the Israeli government for financing the purchase of a sublease on a hospice owned by a Greek Orthodox church to be rented to new Soviet Jewish immigrants. Two weeks ago, about 150 Jews moved onto the site.

Israeli courts have ordered the Jews evicted, a decision the Bush Administration has welcomed.

Dine called the move to buy a sublease on the hospice “a provocation,” said the sources, who provided information about Dine’s statements only on condition that they not be identified.

Dine’s assertion paralleled the State Department’s description of the purchase as “an insensitive and provocative action.”