2
Mar
Jonathan Pollard
JONATHAN POLLARD-POLITICAL PRISONER
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Jonathan Pollard was a civilian American Naval intelligence analyst. In the mid
1980’s (circa 1983-1984), Pollard discovered that information vital to Israel’s security was being deliberately withheld by certain elements within the U.S. national security establishment. -
Israel was legally entitled to this vital security information according to a 1983 Mem-
orandum of Understanding between the two countries. -
The information being withheld from Israel included Syrian, Iraqi, Libyan and
Iranian nuclear, chemical, and biological warfare capabilities - being developed for
use against Israel. It also included information on ballistic missile development by
these countries and information on planned terrorist attacks against Israeli civilian targets.
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When Pollard discovered this suppression of information and asked his superiors
about it, he was told to “mind his own business”, and that “Jews get nervous talking
about poison gas; they don’t need to know.”
He also learned that the objective of cutting off the flow of information to Israel was to severely curtail Israel’s ability to act independently in defence of her own interests. -
Pollard was painfully aware that Israeli lives were being put in jeopardy as a result
of this undeclared intelligence embargo. He did everything he possibly could to stop this covert policy and to have the legal flow of information to Israel restored. When his efforts met no success, he began to give the information to Israel directly. -
Jonathan Pollard was an ideologue, not a mercenary. The FBI concluded after nine
months of polygraphing that Pollard acted for ideological reasons only, not for profit. This fact was recognised by the sentencing judge who declined to fine Pollard. Furthermore, on May 12, 1998, Israel formally acknowledged Jonathan Pollard had been a bona fide Israeli agent. This fact wiped out any remaining doubt about Jonathan Pollard’s motives. Being an official agent is, by definition, the polar opposite of being a mercenary. -
In 1985, his actions were discovered by the U.S. government. His instructions from Israel were to seek refuge in the Israeli embassy in Washington. When Pollard and his former wife sought refuge there, they were at first received and then summarily thrown out into the waiting arms of the FBI.
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Jonathan Pollard never had a trial. At the request of both the U.S. and Israeli governments, he entered into a plea agreement, which spared both governments a long, difficult, expensive and potentially embarrassing trial.
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Jonathan Pollard fulfilled his end of the plea agreement, co-operating fully with the prosecution.
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Nevertheless, Pollard received a life sentence and a recommendation that he never be paroled -in complete violation of the plea agreement he had reached with the government.
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Jonathan Pollard was never indicted for harming the United States.
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Jonathan Pollard was never indicted for compromising codes, agents, or war plans.
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Jonathan Pollard was never charged with treason. [Legally, treason is a charge that is onlyapplicable when one spies for an enemy state in time of war.]
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Jonathan Pollard was indicted on only one charge: one count of passing classified information to an ally, without intent to harm the United States.
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At the last moment, just prior to sentencing, then-Secretary of Defence, Caspar Weinberger delivered an 85 page classified memorandum to the sentencing judge. In it he falsely accused Pollard of treason and of compromising codes even though Pollard did not have clearance to access such information. Also in the memorandum, Weinberger advocated for a life sentence in clear violation of Pollard’s plea agreement.
By allowing Caspar Weinberger to falsely characterise Pollard’s offense as “treason”, the implication that follows is that the country he served, Israel, is an enemy state. -
Pollard and his attorney were shown the Weinberger memorandum only once, just moments before sentencing - hardly adequate time to prepare an appropriate defence to rebut the false accusations in it. Since then, neither Pollard nor any of his cleared attorneys have ever been allowed to access the memorandum to challenge the false charges it contains, which is a clear violation of Pollard’s constitutional rights.
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No one else in the history of the United States has ever received a life sentence for passing classified information to an ally - only Jonathan Pollard. The median sentence for this offense is two to four years. Even agents who have committed far more serious offenses on behalf of hostile nations have not received such a harsh sentence.
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Pollard appealed, but his appeal was rejected - not on substance, but on a technicality, namely: that the appeal had not been filed in a timely manner in accord with stipulated procedures.
Appellate Justice Stephen Williams wrote a minority opinion, calling the case “a complete and gross miscarriage of justice.” -
In November 1995, Israel granted Jonathan Pollard Israeli citizenship. The official presentation took place in January of 1996. This publicly signalled to the U.S., Israel’s willingness to accept full responsibility for Pollard.
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U.S. government sources falsely accuse Pollard in the media of passing “rooms full of classified information” and “hundreds of thousands of documents” to Israel. This volume of information is an absurdity! Pollard would have needed to make numerous “drops” using a moving van to have transferred such a large volume of information. In actual fact, Jonathan Pollard made a grand total of eleven (11) “drops” to the Israelis, using only a small briefcase to hold the documents.
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The formula that the government used to exaggerate the volume of information that Pollard passed to Israel was: if only one page or a single sentence of a document was passed to the Israelis, it was counted as if the whole document had been transmitted. Even referenced documents and sources were counted as having been transmitted ‘in toto’. Using this calculation, a single page could be counted as 50 hard bound 500 page volumes!
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There is no Mr. “X”.
The CIA claim that another highly-placed spy in the U.S. had to exist in order to give Jonathan Pollard his highly specific tasking orders is a complete fabrication. To understand how Pollard was tasked by Israel to secure specific documents, see: Was there another U.S. spy tasking Pollard? - Mr. ‘X’ Exposed. -
On May 12, 1998 , in the same statement in which the Government of Israel publicly acknowledged Jonathan Pollard as an Israeli agent, it accepted full responsibility for him, and indicated its commitment to securing his release and repatriation to Israel.
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Jonathan Pollard has repeatedly expressed his remorse publicly and in private letters to the President and others. He regrets having broken the law, and is sorry he did not find a legal means to act upon his concerns for Israel.
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Jonathan Pollard is linked to the Middle East Peace Process. This linkage was established without Pollard’s involvement or agreement.
Historically, it was the late Prime Minister Rabin that first linked Jonathan Pollard to the peace process in October of 1995, when all the other more conventional means of securing his release had failed. Although President Clinton had promised Rabin that he would release Pollard as part of the final settlement, the President refused to honour his promise after Rabin was assassinated.
Rabin’s successor, Prime Minister Shimon Peres continued to link Pollard to the peace process, and even went so far as to include a spy swap as part of the deal for Pollard’s release.
Later, during the Wye Plantation negotiations President Clinton again promised to release Pollard in exchange for specific Israeli concessions. However, once the deal was signed, the president again reneged.
Pollard’s fate to this day remains emeshed and entangled in the Middle East peace process. -
Five Prime Ministers of Israel and three Presidents of Israel have all personally requested Jonathan Pollard’s release from the United States. Each one pledged to be personally responsible for their agent who has served many years in prison under harsh conditions, and who has fully expressed his remorse. Between close friends and strong allies, that ought to be enough.