Jonathan Pollard. Is he really an Israeli Hero? Or no more than a thief who made the biggest mistake a thief can make and got caught? In Israel, the opinions are divided, and they have been ever since Pollard was caught by the FBI in Washington in 1985 and later convicted of leaking classified materials to Israel.
Let’s first look a little at the historical facts. Jonathan Pollard, an American Jew born in Texas, worked at the beginning of the 80’s as an intelligence analyst at the Naval Intelligence Command. In 1984, after meeting in New York with an Israeli Air Force officer on study leave, Pollard started transferring classified information to the Israelis and was paid handsomely. In November 1985, Pollard and his wife tried to gain access to the Israeli Embassy in Washington but were denied entrance and the FBI arrested them. The Israelis involved in the interactions with Pollard left the U.S. by different means that same night and the FBI found large amounts of incriminating material that Pollard’s wife Anne had hidden. During the trial that followed it was shown that Pollard had attempted to sell classified material to several other countries as well, including Pakistan, a Muslim country, and Australia. In addition, he had tried to broker arms deals with several countries, including Iran.
Israel did deny involvement with Pollard initially but quickly understood that the evidence was significant and decided to at least pretend to cooperate with the Americans in the investigation.
During the trial, Anne Pollard claimed that they did what they felt was the responsible thing to do as Jews and as human beings (in that order ?!), in a futile attempt to rally American Jewry for their cause, which at least in Israel had some effect. But still, Israel only in 1998 acknowledged that they did pay Pollard for his services and that humanitarian and Jewish ideals apparently were not high on the Pollards agenda.
In 1995, Pollard applied for Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return, but was denied by the Israeli Interior Ministry because citizenship could not be given to a Jew who had not yet immigrated to Israel. However, within a couple of months, political pressure inside Israel apparently did the job and Pollard was granted Israeli citizenship in November 1995.
Pollard was tried and convicted, and received a sentence of Life imprisonment. He was released in 2015 after serving the mandatory 30 years, but his parole conditions prevented him from leaving his house at night, and going abroad. In November of this year, the Parole conditions ended and Pollard is now a free man to go where he wants.
Ever since his parole limitations were lifted, and also before that, in Israel there has been a lot of speculation what will happen next. Will Pollard be coming to Israel and be received as a national hero? Prime Minister Netanyahu, who also visited him while he was incarcerated in the U.S., already spoke to him on the phone and told him “we are waiting for you”. (Without specifying who is “we”). A former Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, called to end the “Pollard Festival” as he called it and stated that it would be better if Pollard did not come to Israel at all.
In the U.S. the Pollards are considered American traitors and as such their lives would definitely not be easy. Their attempts to get American Jews on their side failed for the very simple reason that the Jews are worried about a periodically returning accusation of “Dual Loyalty”, whereby it is claimed that they are loyal to Israel more than they are to the U.S. . American Jewish Organizations have been conspicuously silent and it is hard to believe they will reach out to the Pollards in any significant manner.
And, while the Pollards have attempted to picture themselves as Zionists and Israel-loving Jews, the fact that it became clear during the trial that Pollard took money (and quite a bit) from his Israeli handlers made many in Israel look at them as what they really are: hired help who got paid for his services and is owed nothing more.
Even if Netanyahu believes Israel must take in the Pollards as heroes, or believes that doing so will gain him political points, the backlash may be larger than he expects. Both in Israel and in the U.S., where the glorification of an American traitor will not be looked upon favorably. It would be best for all, both Israel and the U.S., if the Pollards are left to be forgotten.
Let Pollard be a spy who is left out in the Cold.
I hope you found this article interesting and I welcome any comments you may have.
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