Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, September-October 2002, pages 23, 70

Special Report

Supporters for Jonathan J. Pollard, Spy-for-Israel, Continue to Work for His Release

By Richard H. Curtiss

Jonathan Jay Pollard now has been in prison for nearly 15 years, serving a life sentence for spying for Israel. His guilt has never been questioned. A majority of Americans feel as strongly about traitors as they did when Pollard was sentenced. Most Americans say bluntly that he should have been shot or, if they don’t believe in capital punishment, at least sentenced to life in prison.

Many American Jews have more complex emotions, however. Some feel that Pollard’s was an act of betrayal unparalleled in American history. Other American Jews feel that there were many extenuating circumstances, given Israel’s needs.

Now, in 2002, there are new stirrings by those seeking to appeal Pollard’s case based on certain legal technicalities that are being revisited. While it is unlikely that an appeal would be accepted, in an important congressional election year things could change. Given the astonishing flip-flops by U.S. President George W. Bush, nothing—no matter how unlikely—can be ruled out. Thus a quick review of Pollard’s crime may be in order.

Pollard’s college classmates noted that the future spy was so strongly pro-Israel that it was clear he would do anything for the Jewish state. He also had a melodramatic way of speaking, however, that made it impossible to distinguish between fact and fiction. Sometimes he seemed to be saying that he already was a spy for Israel, while at other times it appeared to be nothing but fantasy.

Given his proclivity for exaggeration and melodrama, it was surprising that Pollard got a position in Naval Counter Intelligence. His fantastic stories should have served as a warning of his instability. When, having been hired, Pollard showed up for an interview for a better position, he said his girlfriend had just escaped from a kidnapper and that was why he had not had time to change clothes and shave for the interview. The interviewer commented in his evaluation that Pollard seemed quite “wacko.” At that point, once again, Naval Counter Intelligence authorities should have taken an in-depth second look at what Pollard was doing, but they did not.

By this time Pollard had in fact been recruited to spy for Israel by spymaster Rafi Eitan, Mossad’s director of operations for 25 years. Soon the American was removing huge numbers of highly classified documents, particularly on weekends, and returning them on Mondays. He once had so many documents that someone had to help Pollard carry them to his car.

Pollard’s operation soon resembled a virtual production line, and two apartments close to the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC were leased by an Israeli-American in order to duplicate the files he brought. Each time Pollard arrived, his accomplices, Joseph Yagur and Irit Erb, photocopied the files before returning them to Pollard. As the team worked, Pollard’s Israeli handler, air force officer Col. Aviem Sella helped prepare Pollard for the following week’s assignments. Mossad director Eitan continued in his role as direct commander and control officer. In short, Pollard could deliver on anything he promised, no matter how secret the material.

Pollard’s operation soon resembled a virtual production line.

Eventually suspicions were aroused. An experienced operative would have closed the operation down for a time, but Sella and his colleagues could not bear to lose Israel’s most productive spy in history.

There are some missing links in this tale of the perfect spy with nerves of steel. The most important question remains how Pollard knew which documents to select from the Naval Intelligence files. Presumably someone at the highest level of the U.S. government also was an integral part of the conspiracy. This person, referred to as “Mr. X” for lack of any better identity, still has not been identified.

Meanwhile Pollard had become so remarkably successful that he decided to give his wife, Anne Henderson Pollard, a piece of the action. By then Pollard had been given expensive gifts, a salary, and a second salary to be kept in Israel for his retirement there.

Incredibly, Pollard was trying to engage in some additional spying or arms deals on his own to get more money, because he was always in debt. He also tried to use his wife in at least one of these schemes. They included arms deals or espionage for many countries, including Afghanistan, South Africa, Argentina, and Taiwan.

When, belatedly, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) began to close in, the Pollards panicked. Carrying small suitcases and their pet cat they appeared unannounced at the Israeli Embassy in a taxi. The Embassy gatekeeper, however, would not let them in. By that time the FBI had arrived and the Pollards were apprehended. Apparently there had been no precautions made in case of just such an eventuality. When the Pollards were caught, the most lucrative Israeli spy operation in history abruptly folded. Sella, Yagur and Erb immediately fled the country and refused to return to the U.S. Rafi Eitan, who enjoyed diplomatic immunity, left the U.S. and also has refused to return, although he has worked steadily behind the scenes to free his prize agent.

Pollard’s Plea

Jonathan Pollard pleaded guilty to espionage and was sentenced to life in prison. Anne Pollard received lenient treatment because of health problems and eventually was allowed to travel to Israel.

Pollard thought he, too, would receive leniency, and a shorter sentence if he pleaded guilty and avoided a public trial. Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, however, later put into the record a statement describing the immeasurable damage suffered by the United States as a result of Pollard’s spying.

The Pollards were cocky and violated some of the terms of the sentencing. Among them were two unauthorized interviews with Wolf Blitzer, then the Washington correspondent for the Jerusalem Post. Anne Pollard’s interview with “60 Minutes” a few days before the scheduled sentencing allegedly did even more damage.

Pollard received a life sentence, with no apparent provision for a reduced sentence in the future. Meanwhile Pollard divorced his first wife and married a Canadian woman, Esther. She has worked steadily to free him, although sometimes with allegedly counterproductive results.

Jewish Americans at first were shocked at the damage done by Pollard. Then, however, Israel and its Jewish supporters launched a campaign that has never really ended. The gist was that Pollard had spied for a “friendly country” and that the United States “should have” made available whatever was needed to help Israel.

Israel, meanwhile, suspected that some Soviet Jews were not being allowed to leave Russia because of their previous career specializations. So Israel allegedly offered to ransom those people with the secrets that Pollard had stolen.

Perhaps the strangest event of the Pollard saga took place on the eve of the signing of the Wye River Memorandum on Oct. 23, 1998. As an interim agreement was coming together, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu suddenly made one more demand: that Pollard be released as part of the agreement.

While President Bill Clinton tried to finesse what clearly was an impossible demand, CIA Director George Tenet said emphatically that if Pollard were released, he would be forced to resign.

When George W. Bush became president, Israel and its American supporters had to start anew. That is where things stand at the moment. One thing we can be sure of, however, is that we have not heard the last of Jonathan Jay Pollard.

Richard Curtiss is the executive editor of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.