The Pollard Affair:

The Pollard Affair:

The following article is taken from the Encyclopaedia Judaica Yearbook
1986-87 and was written by Meron Medzini, Ph.D.; Author, journalist,
and government official, Jerusalem.

Jonathan Jay Pollard, an American Jew, born 1954 in Galveston, Texas,
and educated at Stanford, became an intelligence analyst with the U.S.
Naval Intelligence Service in Suitland, Maryland, in late 1979. He
rose in ranks and had access to sensitive information. In May 1984, he
was recruited by Israeli agents and for the next 18 months was
"run" by a senior Israeli airforce officer Colonel Aviem Sella,
then on study leave in New York. Pollard provided Israel with a vast
amount of information pertaining to Israel, the Middle East, and other
countries, thus compromising the United States. This information was
channeled through an independent intelligence unit called the
Scientific Liaison Unit which functioned in the Israeli Defense
Ministry from the 1960s and was headed by Veteran Mossad operative,
Rafael Eitan. During those 18 months Pollard was paid for his
services, traveled to Israel and Europe, and was promised asylum in
case of discovery. His recruitment and "running" were never
authorized by any Israeli defense minister or the cabinet.

When FBI agents began to follow Pollard and his wife, they fled to the
Israeli embassy in Washington seeking asylum, but were ejected from the
embassy's grounds and arrested on November 21, 1985. Their arrest
and revelations were leaked to the U.S. media, and the extent of their
operation and the Israeli involvement generated an extreme and furious
reaction by the American leadership and public opinion. There emerged
a serious danger of an open confrontation between Israel and the Reagan
Administration and the Congress. The row that erupted required an
immediate Israeli effort to stem the tide. By then the Israeli people
were appalled over the details of this operation carried out by civil
servants which could have created a major crisis with Israel's only
major ally, and placed American Jews in a highly delicate situation,
accused of dual loyalty.

The U.S. demanded cooperation by Israel in the investigation, and on
December 1, 1985 Prime Minister Peres agreed to allow questioning of
the involved Israelis by U.S. officials, return all the documents taken
by Pollard, who during his trial that being an ardent Zionist he was
incensed by the refusal of his government to supply Israel with all
intelligence information pertaining to its security. In June 1986
Pollard pleaded guilty to espionage charges and entered into plea
bargaining with the prosecution. But in spite of this he was sentenced
in March 1987 to life imprisonment while his wife received a five-year
jail term.

A few weeks prior to that, U.S. public opinion was again aroused by the
news that Rafael Eitan had been appointed chairman of the board of
Israel Chemical Industries, a government corporation, while Aviem Sella
was was appointed to command a major air base, which meant promotion in
rank. Following public outcry in Israel and the U.S. Sella resigned
his post. Meanwhile public opinion in Israel demanded the appointment
of an inquiry committee to investigate the evolution of the affair and
to determine responsibility for this operation. The harshness of the
Pollard sentence led the government to appoint a two-man committee (the
Tsur-Rotenstreich Committee) on March 12, 1987 while a sub-committee of
the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee headed by Abba Eban
carried out its own separate and independent investigation. Both
committees submitted their reports on May 26, 1987. The
Tsur-Rotenstreich Committee felt that the entire cabinet should bear
responsibility for the affair. In a secret annex it affixed blame on
Prime Minister Peres and Shamir and the Defense Ministers Arens and
Rabin for failure to exercise control and supervision over the
Scientific Liaison Unit and recommended new procedures in intelligence
operations. This body and the Knesset sub-committee felt that the
involved civil servants, Eitan and Sella, acted injudiciously and far
exceeded their authority, but also blamed the senior political echelon
for lack of involvement in such operations and their failure to check
the details pertaining to the source of the vast intelligence
information flowing to Israel. Both committees severely criticized
Israel's leadership for hasty actions and serious errors of
judgement, although justified their cooperation with the U.S.
government.

The affair placed the American Jewish community in an embarrassing
situation, their confidence in Israel's leadership seriously shaken,
fearing that the affair could be used in the future by anti-Israel and
anti-Jewish elements in American. Public opinion both in Israel and
the U.S. felt however that the Israeli committees' reports basically
amounted to a whitewash and sympathy flowed to Pollard and his wife
whose harsh sentence had stunned the public. A fund raising effort on
Israeli city streets brought over $150,000.00 for Pollards defense
fund. Those Israelis who sought to defend their countries actions
argued that Israel was still under siege, fighting a battle against
terror, and living in a fragile and turbulent Middle East. Israel-U.S.
Strategic Understanding, some Israelis felt they were not being
supplied with all relevant information.

These arguments did not convince many Israelis who felt that a
monumental error had been committed and that Israeli leaders were not
being required to pay the political price for their lack of judgement
and involvement. It was feared that the affair would have long term
negative effects on Israel-American relations and the degree of trust
and confidence once prevailing in these ties had been seriously
compromised.

End of Article

I want you all to look at one sentence in the article follows:
'Those Israelis who sought to defend their countries actions argued
that Israel was still under siege, fighting a battle against terror,
and living in a fragile and turbulent Middle East.'

Today the USA 'fighting a battle against terror'

We are subject to the will of the God of Israel and Yahweh is his name
'fighting a battle against terror.'

We will always be subject to the will of the God of Israel and we will
be fighting a battle against terror as long as we keep Jonathon Pollard
in prison for providing Israel with information on the location of
terrorist cells.

.

Relevant Pages

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