In a move which officials are “strongly denying” is related to the ongoing Israeli fury about the P5+1 nuclear deal with Iran, the Obama Administration is said to be preparing for the release of Jonathan Pollard, who has been in a federal prison for decades after being convicted of spying on behalf of Israel. Officials have further denied that any decision was actually finalized on the release.
The Texas-born Pollard was a civilian employee of the US Navy and was caught handing large amounts of classified documents to Israeli agents. He and his wife later insisted that they felt they had a “moral obligation” as Jews to spy on behalf of the Israeli government. He was sentenced to life in prison in 1987.
Israel granted Pollard citizenship retroactively in 1995, while in prison, and Israeli governments have repeatedly sought his release. The Netanyahu government has picked up the pace on this, trying to “trade” concessions on the stalled peace process with the Palestinians for Pollard, something the US has repeatedly spurned.
Despite official denials, there is a clear link between US efforts to buy off the Israeli government to get them to stop railing daily about the Iran nuclear deal. The US is also expected to offer a one-time bonus of extra military equipment in the realm of $4 billion as part of the “reparations” for the deal.
US intelligence officials are said to strongly oppose Pollard’s release, particularly if it is done as part of a diplomatic exchange instead of a tit-for-tat trade of spies, the preferred method of settling long-standing detention of spies.
While the announcements today are clearly meant to tie this to the Iran dispute, the timing of the release is still unclear, though officials say it will almost certainly happen by year’s end. Pollard is technically eligible for parole on November 21.
It will likely be simpler from a legal perspective for the administration to wait until that November date to actually complete the release, though they theoretically could justify the release on health grounds, as Israeli officials have repeatedly claimed Pollard is in failing health.
The release would be a major win for Netanyahu, as Israeli officials have been lionizing Pollard for decades as a hero of the Israeli state.
How can a country be an 'ally' that considers a person responsible for one of the worst
cases of espionage against the U.S. a national hero? It's time for Americans to end the most
damaging entanglement in US history.
A real dividing issue around American society is the existence of Israel it is splitting apart American's and it is splitting those in the Middle East.
Israel does not play by international rules.
It has undeclared nukes, it has the most violated UN resolutions, It has sold stolen Nukes to other nationals, it has assassinated scientist.and many more evils. But yet it is a so called democracy.
This traitor and spy will eventually flee America for Israel and become a hero for the rest of the criminals there.
Hence the reason for creating Israel in the first place.
To protect Zionist criminals.
NOOOO…!!
Officials are "strongly denying"… Never believe anything until it's been officially denied.
Bibi must have thrown another tantrum, weeping and screaming for "compensation." Arms, money, endless babbling on the media waves and speeches calling for Congress to do as Bibi does are not enough.
Now he wants his spies to come home – a free ride.
Not true:
Officials deny report that U.S. preparing to release Israeli spy http://news.yahoo.com/u-preparing-release-convict…
Bibi is deranged. Since when are peace deals a bad thing?
Bibi is the ONLY person on the planet to sell actual Nuclear weapons according to the Current South African Government Bibi sold those weapons to South Africa when there was also a UN Security Council international arms embargo there as well!
bibi got this wanker instead
Why not threaten to cut off the annual 3 billion they already leech in exchange for them STFU about the Iran deal. If that doesn't work, military options should be on that table I'm always hearing about.
I don't think releasing him is going to shut them up. It smells of weakness if that is the reason why he is being released. It will only embolden Netanyahu and his supporters. I think a spy exchange makes better sense. They give back all their captured spies and they get him. Does our dear ally have in their custody American spies?
I think in the past the U.S. has proposed exchanging Vanunu, the nuclear whistleblower, for Pollard, While Israel may not hold U.S. spies, they do hold and even torture U.S. citizens.
It is right to release Pollard. He no longer has information that threatens the US. He has paid enough, and presumably, he did not realize Israel would trade his information to Russia, resulting in the death of US assets.
It is time to be merciful.
Nonsense, he is spy who cost lives.
As far as I am concerned, he is responsible for the deaths of the U.S. spies. How do you know what information he does or does not have?
The US was already merciful–they did not put this traitor in front of a firing sqard.
Even a firing squad would be merciful.
Actually, the Pollard investigation revealed the presence of other spies who were never caught, including a high level White House official code named "Mega".
Remember the USS Liberty! The death of US "assets" by Israel.
Jessica Ramer do you take pride in being stupid?
dead you would be correct
One of our intelligence agencies ought to assassinate Pollard, in his cell, like the Israeli Prisoner X.
We are very free to assassinate now, and this guy did us real harm.
He caused the deaths of a considerable number of known named agents in the Soviet Union. He deserved the death penalty, and should not have been spared for multiple murders by long running treason for profit.
One can hope.
jcc2c I regularly comment on ICH and Anti war but i also want to comment on other sites i seen you have been commenting on a site called Jewish Daily Forward.. I tried to get a link to it but i cant see any comments for Intense Debates at the site?
If I have, it is only by a link from Google News or another such aggregation website. Sorry, can't help.
america has a lot of similarities to Greece both are sinking and are happily going along with the ride.
Pollard's release scheduled for November 21, 2015 has nohing to do with the Iran deal. Under federal law when hew was sentenced in 1985 prisioners who served 30 years of a life sentence were given mandatory parole after 30 years unless they were charged with other crimes or violation of prison rules. I don't like Pollard or his bosses or his fans. But the man has done his time and we should follow our rules.
As for the increased military aid to Israel, that is an outrage! And what happened to Rand Paul's opposition to military aid to foreign countries?
There are special rules for spies. Formally, they're not supposed to be paroled; they're supposed to be shot.
"Mandatory parole" does not mean that the government is required to parole him. The "mandatory" means that IF he is paroled, then certain conditions are mandatory for the period of the rest of his sentence, in this case for the rest of his life.
There is NOTHING that requires the government to release this garbage.
he probable is lucky not to get lethal injections Thanks mark
"The US is also expected to offer a one-time bonus of extra military equipment in the realm of $4 billion as part of the “reparations” for the deal." is absolutely disgusting. As if Israel needs MORE weapons to kill more Palestinians or Lebanese and expand its attacks-it should be paying reparations for some of its damage so far. Israel is NOT endangered by this Iran deal, and to pretend it is is falling into the Zionist trap once more.
Have we gone totally off our marbles?
Israel granted this repulsive weasel Pollard citizenship in 1995, a slap in the face of their benefactor, the US taxpayer (you and me !).
This outrageous act is similar to the intentional insult of our Government by the genocidal war monger Netanyahu when he decided to address US Congress, at Boehner's invitation, to protest our talks with Iran to stop the assumed production of atomic weapons. He spit in our face!!
This, after Israeli spies and Netanyahu himself, deliberately stole atomic technology and smuggled critical information from the United States to assist Israel in the production of same atomic weapons.
Now we learn that our Government is willing to offer this rogue nation a one-time bonus of $ 4 billion as "reparations" for the agreement with Iran. Why the double standard?
When and where will this idiotic, unforgiveable nonsense end?
Can somebody please tell me??
Netanyahu is desperate for Pollard's release not for Pollard's sake, but to make the world safe for all those potential American spies out there. Spy on your own country for Israel and Israel will take care of you.
How is Israel supposed to recruit (more) spies to betray their country with Pollard sitting in jail as an example? Makes it harder.
If he's released and goes "home" to a hero's welcome, Netanyahu can count on a new flood of Aliyah vets willing to pass on whatever Israel needs.
Pollard is a symbol. Traitors, you will be rewarded!
Shame on the Obama administration for even considering caving in to Israeli demands. Will The United States ever get this monkey off of its back. What country would allow the Zionist, fifth column, group of maggots, called AIPAC, even be allowed to exist and influence policy? Of all entangling alliances, this lopsided, marriage made in hell, should end in divorce, with no alimony provided.
How can you let a terrorist like this free
This is why the power of Israel and the Israeli lobby must be challenged and reversed. America in essence has become an Israeli colony with all the presidential candidates running for Israeli Viceroy and playing the game of Bombing for dollars with the winner receiving the financing from Israel first billionaires. This opposition must come from the American peole as the politicians are hoeplessly corrupt..
Am I the only one that is perplext by the Fact that the USA has to pay another State in order to make Deals which are in its Interest.
no.
Exchange Pollard for Bibi, who can then be tried and convicted here in the US for war crimes. Then lock him up and throw away the key.
Okay, so it's just a fantasy.
He can be for stealing nuclear materials from US. He can also be charged by state Ohio for ecological and environmental contamination of Ohio town with laked radioactive material
Israel is welcome to that trash, but Pollard should never be allowed back into the USA – never, not even for bereavement visits or health care – never. Let him live and die in Israel, where he will soon learn the meaning of the phrase, "So what have you done for me lately?".
If the US releases Pollard as some sort of compensation to Israel for the Iran deal, it must be wondered what promise Israel gave in return. Was it not to interfere with members of Congress who must ratify the deal? That would explain the delay until the end of the year, perhaps, in releasing him. It would be a period of time in which Israel's behavior would be critical to getting Pollard. If they interfered significantly, and were discovered doing so, then Pollard could stay in jail (but after all the publicity, would he?)
But if Israel's promises are just vague, open-ended ones about keeping quiet on the propaganda front, or even about never using spies against the US again (ha!) who would believe them?
You have to wonder what Israel was going to do if Pollard wasn't released. And walking that back, you have to wonder what we would do if Israel didn't fulfill what we asked them to do or refrain from doing prior to the release. Assuming of course we asked them to stop doing whatever they do to lobby and blackmail members of Congress.
Of course the release of Pollard and the Iran deal are related. How could they not be?
Wheres that number for the WH to complain?
Today,Obomba says Africa is on the move!Yeah,right down the old poop hole.The whole north is aflame,and most of the south is under corrupt rulers.
What a fiasco.
Appeasement never works.
Tel Aviv is the new Munich!
November 18, 2012 Israel and the U.S. CREATED Hamas, Hezbollah and Al Qaeda
Creating the Enemies We Now Fight Against We’ve extensively documented that the U.S. and Israel created Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups in an attempt to fight other enemies.
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/11/israel-and…
The only deal I could support, vis-à-vis the spy Pollard, is for Obama to release this traitor in conjunction with granting Edward Snowden complete amnesty for all of his prior acts.
That would be a devil's bargain worth doing. Not going to happen, though…
Time to roll the story up again in the national press.
http://original.antiwar.com/smith-grant/2011/02/0…
Wolf Blitzer will mybe get a heart attack?
Although Israel promised cooperation in the aftermath of Pollard’s treason, it stonewalled U.S. investigators sent to Israel and never returned the stolen classified U.S. documents. Contrary to Quayle and Mukasey’s statements, this rendered a full U.S. damage assessment of documents sent to the Soviet Union impossible, particularly during the tail end of the Cold War when it mattered most. “MEGA,” an Israeli mole(s) suspected of helping handler Rafael Eitan task Pollard with specific file number requests, was never unmasked, and despite newly released FBI files, Israel’s espionage wing responsible for obtaining klystrons, krytons, and other nuclear technologies in addition to raw materials from the U.S. was also never fully revealed in time to thwart its many procurement activities with U.S. collaborators.
Petitioners such as Lawrence Korb, a former U.S. assistant secretary of defense, claim that former Secretary of Defense Casper Weinberger’s classified briefing to Judge Aubry Robinson exaggerated the harm done to U.S. national security and led to an unduly harsh sentence. But it is much more likely that Pollard’s own clumsy attempts to avoid accountability sealed his fate. In court Pollard solicited classified documents in an attempt to prove that “it was the established policy of the Department of Justice not to prosecute U.S. citizens for espionage activities on behalf of Israel.” Pollard’s public relations campaign, which violated agreements with the court, included interviews with former AIPAC newsletter editor Wolf Blitzer in which Pollard compared himself to an Israeli pilot shot down behind enemy lines. None of this performance garnered sympathy from Judge Robinson. But the belief that crimes for Israel should never be punished in the U.S. continues unabated.
That's a good 'blast from the past' – merci, El T.
"a one-time bonus of extra military equipment in the realm of $4 billion as part of the “reparations” for the deal"
Reparations? If there was ever any doubt that the zionists are in control of the U.S. government this surely proves it. Bonus? It's extortion!!! Iran has no nuclear weapons program according to U.S. intelligence and the Mossad and yet we negotiate an agreement that keeps them from any chance of getting one, which is good for Israel since they are the only state in the ME that actually has nuclear weapons. So, this "existential" threat from Iran is all Kabuki in an effort to extort billions more $$$$$ from the U.S. The Fed will not allow an audit of their books, I wonder how much money went clandestinely to Israel or its tentacles since the top two executives of the Fed are zionists and one is an Israeli citizen. I wonder if this was what the German population experienced in the 1930's?
Treason = lethal injection not freedom….
If this guy is freed then Julian Assange should also be freed / exonerated?
Actually Assange and Snowden should have parades in their behalf while pollard should remain in prison until his fat a** croaks.
What if Israel backs out of any deal agreement with Pollard and Iran after Pollard is released. Which is probably what is going to happen. ??Trust Iran??, who the h3ll can trust Israel.
" they had a “moral obligation” as Jews to spy on behalf of the Israeli government"?
Zionist mentality is very dangerous.
Sounds very positive. Israel clearly wants to sell its acceptance of the Iran deal dearly and if Pollard, who is now useless to them, and a heap of military equipment they'd get anyway if they really needed it is all it take, so much the better. The whole thing is rather sordid and dishonourable but since when was politics anything other than sordid and dishonourable?
Appeasement! Munich!
You know as soon as Israel gets their hands on Pollard he's going to be treated as a hero of the state and they'll go right back to business as usual- this doesn't do a thing for us at all.
How about trading Pollard for a signature on a nuclear inspection compliance deal? They can sign the same protocols they screamed about Iran having to abide by. No signature, no Pollard.
Let him rot. A life sentence means a life sentence.
Can you swap him for Mordechai Vanunu – a real hero whistleblower.?