Hoenlein: ElBaradei a ‘stooge’ for Iran

WASHINGTON - The director of the US Jewish foreign policy umbrella called Mohammed ElBaradei, the opposition leader emerging from the Egyptian ferment, a "stooge of Iran."

Malcolm Hoenlein, the executive vice-president of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, accused ElBaradei of covering up Iran's true nuclear weaponization capacities while he directed the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog.

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"He is a stooge of Iran, and I don't use the term lightly," Hoenlein said in an online recorded interview with Yeshiva World News on the Egyptian crisis. "He fronted for them, he distorted the reports."

ElBaradei, who directed the IAEA from 1997-2009, returned to Egypt after his third term ended. He  was soon touted as a possible challenger to the 30-year autocracy led by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

He has emerged, since protests were launched last week, as a consensus candidate of various opposition groups for transitional leader.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has adopted a policy of not commenting on the breaking developments, not wanting to be seen as siding with any player in the Egyptian unrest. Israel's peace treaty with Egypt is the cornerstone of its defense and foreign policies.

During his term as IAEA chief, ElBaradei said Iran was further away from a nuclear weapon than many in the West claimed and castigated western powers -- including Israel -- for suggesting that a military option against Iran was increasingly possible.

ElBaradei made it clear in those statements that his posture stemmed from the U.S. failure to heed warnings from him and other weapons experts that Iraq did not have a weapons capacity, and to invade the country nonetheless.

ElBaradei criticized Iran for not cooperating with IAEA inspectors, but also argued that the likeliest means of increasing inspections was to engage with Iran.

His outspoken opposition to the war in Iraq and increased pressure on Iran earned him the enmity of some Bush administration officials. US agencies reportedly monitored his communications to see if he was colluding with Iran, but came up with nothing.