Jewish 'Social Worker' Held as 'Spy' in Cuba

Jewish 'Social Worker' Held as 'Spy' in Cuba
by Hana Levi Julian

(IsraelNN.com) A 60-year-old American Jewish social worker may have
gotten caught in the crossfire between the U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID) and the Cuban government.

Alan P. Gross, a former volunteer organizer in the presidential campaign
for the current President Barack Obama, is being held in Cuba on
suspicion of spying for the United States after having been arrested
last month by Cuban authorities. U.S. government officials confirmed in
a report published by the New York Times that Gross traveled to Cuba
under an American program that provides funding and technical support to
faith-based nonprofit organizations, linked to USAID.

A resident of a Washington D.C. suburb, Gross was allegedly in Cuba to
provide communications equipment to Jewish nonprofit organizations
there. One problem, however, is that he appears to have lacked a proper
visa.

Nonetheless, U.S. officials insisted that he is not a spy, nor were his
activities "subversive" in any way. The Havana government, however, has
labeled his work as a threat to national security, although to date, he
has not been formally charged by the Cuban government. The U.S. has
received very little information from Havana as to the specific
allegations against him.

According to a statement issued by Development Alternatives Inc., an
organization which operates as a contractor for USAID, Gross's work in
Cuba "was focused on facilitating communications among people in a
nonviolent, non-dissident religious organization."

An international development specialist, Gross has traveled to some 50
countries around the world, including Afghanistan, Armenia, Iraq and
Kuwait. He had also been to Cuba before, to bring satellite and other
communications equipment to three Jewish community organizations. One
source who requested anonymity said that the current trip had been
intended to allow Gross to observe how the previously delivered
equipment was being utilized.

Semi-covert ops
Although there was no evidence to indicate that the program with which
Gross was associated had any links to covert operations, the incident
has prompted the chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, U.S. Senator John Kerry, to call for a comprehensive review
of USAID programs. Unnamed officials told the New York Times they
suspected Cuba wanted to expose the agency's undercover programs. The
officials said funding for the agency's 'semi-covert' programs in Cuba
has skyrocketed from $5 million to $45 million over the past decade, and
said these programs had a history of mismanagement.

USAID in the Middle East has also been funded to the tune of millions of
dollars, all of it funnelld as aid to the Palestinian Authority. In the
early part of 2009, a USAID-funded project to place non-Hebrew road
signs in English and Arabic throughout Judea and Samaria was announced
by the PA, for example -- the first of its kind since Jordan lost
control of the region after attacking Israel in June 1967.

The agency also helps the PA build schools where Arab children learn
incitement against Jews, and where they are taught that the State of
Israel does not exist, investigative journalist David Bedein reported in
November 2009.

Jewish 'Social Worker' Held as 'Spy' in Cuba - Jewish World - Israel
News - Israel National News (14 January 2010)
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/135531