Time to Free Pollard
To some, the U.S. case of convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard is both puzzling and troubling, and makes little sense.
We don’t hear much about Pollard these days. Arrested in 1986, the former civilian intelligence analyst for the U.S. navy pleaded guilty to “spying” for Israel, and was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Ever since, Israel has never ceased lobbing for his release. But the U.S. law and intelligence agencies remain adamant that he should stay in prison.
Efforts to get him a presidential pardon have come to naught. A succession of presidents may have been willing, but not if it caused a rift with their own intelligence pooh-bahs.
It’s hard to understand. The U.S. has released or expelled all sorts of former Russian and enemy spies (Canada prefers to expel rather than prosecute). So why the vindictiveness towards Pollard, who was not an enemy agent, but an agent of an ally that’s dependent on the U.S.?
This July, the U.S. expelled ten citizens in a spy-swap with Russia. The ten who confessed, weren’t even thoroughly interrogated about their decade-long venture into espionage and treason.
Compared to them, Pollard seems small potatoes.
Pollard – and Israel – were not intent on undermining American security, but in gathering data on Soviet weaponry that might land in Arab countries. It was defensive espionage. America’s security was not directly threatened.
The U.S. hostility toward Pollard seemed more personal and vindictive than his “crime” warranted – not unusual motives in the U.S. justice system.
He’s now approaching 25 years in prison, yet successive American administrations have remained impervious to Israel’s pleas that he be released. Even Israel formally making him an Israeli citizen cuts little ice with his captors.
Why? Surely the message has been delivered and absorbed. Pollard is no longer a threat to America, assuming he ever was, which is quite a jump.
One of Pollard’s champions is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who repeatedly has sought to get him freed. Freeing Pollard has also been used as a bargaining chip in negotiating a freeze on Israeli construction on the West Bank. Netanyahu has visited Pollard in jail; a park is named after him in Jerusalem.
Various “Justice for Pollard” committees have been organized over the years, to little avail. He got justice from U.S. courts -- just more “justice” than was warranted.
It would be appropriate now to grant amnesty, and send him off to Israel and let him bask in his reputation.
All things considered, there’s little about Pollard that’s admirable. From his record, he seems to have been dependent on drugs, a congenital liar, and a wannabe who should never have been in intelligence.
His motivation for treason was money, not ideology. He got something like $1,500 a month from the Israelis, but was also trying to sell his spy services to South Africa and Australia. He lied on his resume about his education.
Pollard was not the sort of person a sensible intelligence agency would hire. Even the CIA had rejected his services before naval intelligence accepted him.
Still, 24 years in jail seem sufficient.
He’s divorced from his wife who now lives in Israel, and it’s hard to see the downside in Pollard being released and deported to Israel, where he’s apparently regarded as a hero – a status likely to erode, the better Israelis get to know him.
Pollard seems maliciously and wrongly persecuted in the U.S., but he’s still a creep.