Jonathan Pollard - Israel and Pollard

Israel and Pollard

Pollard applied for Israeli citizenship in 1995; his petition was granted on November 22, 1995. Until 1998 Israel denied that Pollard was an Israeli source. Their official position was that he worked for an unauthorized rogue operation.

Israeli officials at one point reportedly considered offering to release Yosef Amit, an Israeli military intelligence officer who was serving a 12-year prison sentence for spying for the United States and another NATO power, in exchange for Pollard. However, Amit torpedoed the proposal, sending a letter to the State Attorney's Office emphasizing that he had no wish to be exchanged.

In 1995, there were reports that Israel was considering a deal in which it would orchestrate the release of American spies imprisoned in the Soviet Union in exchange for Pollard. Under the deal, Israel would release Marcus Klingberg, an Israeli imprisoned for spying for the Soviets, and in exchange, the Soviets would release imprisoned US agents. The United States would then free Pollard.

On May 11, 1998, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted Pollard was a known information source, handled by high-ranking officials of the Israeli Bureau for Scientific Relations (Lekem). The Israeli government paid for at least two of Pollard's trial attorneys – Richard A. Hibey and Hamilton Philip Fox III – and continues to ask for his release. Netanyahu and Ehud Barak, in 1999 in the context of the Israeli elections, exchanged barbs in the media over which of them had been more supportive of Pollard.

In 2002, Netanyahu visited Pollard in prison, and, in 2007, claimed that if he were to be elected Prime Minister he would bring about Pollard's release.

In September 2009, Israeli State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss released a report that stated the Israeli government has made concerted efforts for years to gain Pollard's release, but the American government refused. The Pollards rejected the findings of the report, calling it a "whitewash" of the Israeli government. However, they did agree with another finding of the report that stated Pollard had been denied due legal process in the United States.

In June 2011, 70 members of the Israeli parliament (the Knesset) lent their support to the Pollard family's request that President Obama allow Pollard to visit his ailing father, Morris. When his father died soon after, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Israel's official support for a new Pollard family request that would allow Jonathan Pollard to attend his father's funeral. These requests were both ultimately denied by the U.S. government.