Israel’s domestic and foreign propaganda apparatus is spinning the yarn that convicted U.S. spy for Israel Jonathan Pollard has served longer in prison than any other spy for an American “ally.” The meme from Israel considers that Israel, which is considered a “hostile intelligence” nation by the FBI, Directorate of National Intelligence, each of the military service’s counter-intelligence branches, the CIA, and the National Security Agency, is an American ally. American counter-intelligence places Israel in the category of a nation with a hostile intelligence agency.
Secretary of State John Kerry is reportedly negotiating the release of Pollard for the continued release of Palestinian prisoners by Israel and a pledge by Israel to freeze construction of settlements in the Occupied West Bank. Israel’s history shows that it has always reneged on such promises. The release of Israeli whistleblowing nuclear scientist Mordechai Vanunu to the West is also not part of the negotiations between Washington and the Jerusalem authorities on Pollard’s release.
The release of Pollard, which has been demanded by successive Israeli prime ministers since he was jailed during the Reagan administration, is contentious within the U.S. intelligence community. CIA director George Tenet threatened to resign during the Clinton administration when there was a proposal by the White House to release Pollard.
Pollard is serving a life sentence for transmitting to the Israelis a virtual garage-full of classified documents. Some of the classified documents were traded with the Soviet Union by Israel in exchange for the release of Soviet Jews to the self-proclaimed Jewish state. Pollard’s compromise of sensitive intelligence sources and methods resulted in the collapse of American espionage networks throughout the Middle East.
Pollard always maintained that he turned over the classified documents to Israel because he was a committed Zionist who was out to help Israel and not harm the United States. However, court records show that Pollard received more than $45,000 in cash from the Israelis for transmitting thousands of documents to Israeli intelligence agents between July 1984 and November 1985. It was on November 18, 1985, that Pollard was arrested by the FBI while trying to sneak into the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC. Israel promised Pollard an additional $300,000 in a Swiss bank account.
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