Pollard to be freed; US analyst spied for Israel

[webfact]

Pollard to be freed; US analyst spied for Israel
By ERIC TUCKER

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jonathan Pollard, the former Navy intelligence analyst whose conviction of spying for Israel stoked fierce international passions, has been granted parole and will be released from prison in November after nearly 30 years.

The decision to free Pollard from his life sentence, announced Tuesday by his lawyers and then confirmed by the Justice Department, caps an extraordinary espionage case that spurred decades of legal and diplomatic wrangling. Critics have condemned the American as a traitor who betrayed his country for money and disclosed damaging secrets, while supporters have argued that he was punished excessively given that he spied for a U.S. ally.

Pollard is due to be released on Nov. 21, three decades after he was arrested while trying to gain asylum at the Israeli Embassy in Washington. Though American Jews have wrestled with how much leniency he should get, Israelis have long campaigned for his freedom. The government there has recognized him as an Israeli agent and granted him citizenship, even as recent American presidents have resisted efforts to free him early.

"We are looking forward to his release," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement Tuesday.

White House officials strongly denied that the release was in any way tied to the nuclear deal recently reached with Iran, or that it was intended as a concession to Israel. Secretary of State John Kerry, who testified before Congress on the nuclear deal on Tuesday, told reporters Pollard's parole was "not at all" connected. And Israeli officials have said that while they would welcome the release, it would not ease their opposition to the Iran agreement.

The U.S. had previously dangled the prospect of his release, including during Israel-Palestinian talks last year, when the Obama administration considered the possibility of freeing Pollard early as part of a package of incentives to keep Israel at the negotiating table. As it turned out, the peace effort collapsed and nothing came of the proposal.

The Justice Department, for its part, noted that federal sentencing rules in place at the time of Pollard's prosecution entitled him to parole after serving 30 years of his life sentence. Department lawyers did not contest his parole bid, which was granted following a hearing this month before the U.S. Parole Commission that took into account Pollard's behavior in prison and whether he was likely to commit new crimes if released.

Though parolees are required for five years after their release to get government permission for foreign travel, Pollard's lawyers say they intend to ask President Barack Obama to grant him clemency as well as authority to leave the United States and move to Israel immediately.

Said Netanyahu, in Israel, "Throughout his time in prison, I consistently raised the issue of his release in my meetings and conversations with the leadership of successive U.S. administrations."

"Immense joy," Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked wrote on her Facebook page in Hebrew, adding that "thirty years of suffering will come to an end this November."

She echoed statements of American officials in saying that he was being released because of the justice system and not because of the Iran deal.

Pollard, 60, has faced health problems in recent years. He is being held in the federal prison in Butner, North Carolina, and his lawyers said they have secured housing and a job for him in New York once he is released. They said he was "looking forward to being reunited with his beloved wife, Esther."

The Pollard prosecution represented one of the most sensational and divisive spy cases in recent American history. His supporters maintain that he provided information critical to Israel's security interests at a time when the country was under threat from its Middle East neighbors, but prosecutors and many in the U.S. intelligence community have long maintained that his disclosure of voluminous classified documents constituted a criminal breach on par with that of America's most infamous spies.

The U.S. has said Pollard provided reams of sensitive and classified information to Israel, including about radar-jamming techniques and the electronic capabilities of nations hostile to Israel, including Saudi Arabia.

A court statement from then-Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger said Pollard did "irrevocable" damage to the U.S. and had provided the Israelis with many U.S. classified publications and classified messages and cables. Portions of the Weinberger document that have been declassified state that Pollard admitted passing to his Israeli contacts "an incredibly large quantity of classified documents" and that U.S. troops could be endangered because of the theft.

"He took an oath to support the Constitution of the United States, and he failed it," said M.E. "Spike" Bowman, the director of Naval Intelligence at the time of Pollard's arrest. "The fact that he gave it to an ally, that makes absolutely no difference to me. I'm glad that it was an ally rather than the Russians, but what he did makes absolutely no difference."

Eliot Lauer, one of Pollard's lawyers, rejected that assessment, saying his client "loves this country" and "never intended to do anything to harm the United States."

"We are grateful and delighted that our client will be released soon," said a statement from Pollard's lawyers, Lauer and Jacques Semmelman.
___

Associated Press writers Matthew Lee and Deb Riechmann in Washington and Ian Deitch in Jerusalem contributed to this report.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-07-29

[ezzra]

It took Obama to be so ashamed of himself at the deal he gave the Iranians so much, that he had to let Pollard go

to appease Israel, either that, or it the worst coincident of strange timing in the world....

Edited July 28, 2015 by ezzra

[Linky]

It took Obama to be so ashamed of himself at the deal he gave the Iranians so much, that he had to let Pollard go

to appease Israel, either that, or it the worst coincident of strange timing in the world....

Huh, evidence?

Or it could be that after 30 years he was eligible for parole.

[Somtamnication]

This man should have been executed years ago. He did far more damage than any Iranian agreement. (3,2,1......)

[kamahele]

It took Obama to be so ashamed of himself at the deal he gave the Iranians so much, that he had to let Pollard go

to appease Israel, either that, or it the worst coincident of strange timing in the world....

Obama and the internationally negotiated deal with Iran to save the world from their nuclear program had nothing to do with Pollard being up for parole. He served his time and now the traitor can paroled. Simple as that.

[Jupiterjim]

Pollard spies for Israel?

Is this the same Israel that has been causing the US all these Middle East problems?

[Pakboong]

It is important to note that a large portion of Casper Weinberger's position on this matter still has not been declassified and that portion, contains the reasons for the hardliners on Pollard's harsh sentence and why he should stay in prison. There haven't been many "read on" to the part still classified. So sure, the crazies who want this guy back on the street, really have no idea how much damage was done to the US Department of Defense and its people.

The Knesset actually has a Pollard caucus if can imagine that.

[Thorgal]

Quote from OP :

"Eliot Lauer, one of Pollard's lawyers, rejected that assessment, saying his client "loves this country" and "never intended to do anything to harm the United States."

Diplomacy at its finest...

Edited July 29, 2015 by Thorgal

[Ulysses G.]

The Obama administration has let numerous terrorists go free. At least this guy did his 30 years.

[Jupiterjim]

The Obama administration has let numerous terrorists go free. At least this guy did his 30 years.

Right. Obama loves terrorists.

Edited July 29, 2015 by Jupiterjim

[Linky]

The Obama administration has let numerous terrorists go free. At least this guy did his 30 years.

I think you will find the parole board let him out. You know, separation of powers and all that.

[Pakboong]

The Obama administration has let numerous terrorists go free. At least this guy did his 30 years.

I think you will find the parole board let him out. You know, separation of powers and all that.

He does however have to remain in the US for 5 years unless Obama lets him go with a time served stipulation. I expect that to happen whereby he will go back to Israel to a hero's welcome.

[Steely Dan]

It took Obama to be so ashamed of himself at the deal he gave the Iranians so much, that he had to let Pollard go

to appease Israel, either that, or it the worst coincident of strange timing in the world....

The timing is indeed cynical and I predict here and now that the four Americans held by the Iranians will be released on the eve before congress votes on ratifying the nuclear deal with Iran.

[Pakboong]

Every right wing nut on the planet is hoping for a ticker tape parade on the 6 o'clock news. It will be interesting to see if the Israelis can keep a lid on their happiness.

Edited July 29, 2015 by Pakboong

[Srikcir]

The USA should have done an exchange: Pollard for Netanyahu.

[Pakboong]

This has never really been about Pollard. It's about hundreds of other field operatives deployed around the world by the Israelis. They all know how dangerous their work is but it is a tough recruitment effort if you believe you will be completely abandoned if you get caught. The Israelis know what they are doing here and they know how to play it.

[Steely Dan]

This has never really been about Pollard. It's about hundreds of other field operatives deployed around the world by the Israelis. They all know how dangerous their work is but it is a tough recruitment effort if you believe you will be completely abandoned if you get caught. The Israelis know what they are doing here and they know how to play it.

I would refer you to the current leaks disclosing the U.S has spied on France, Germany and Japan. Stones and glass houses springs to mind.

[Seastallion]

The Obama administration has let numerous terrorists go free. At least this guy did his 30 years.

Would that be tried and convicted terrorists?

[Pakboong]

This has never really been about Pollard. It's about hundreds of other field operatives deployed around the world by the Israelis. They all know how dangerous their work is but it is a tough recruitment effort if you believe you will be completely abandoned if you get caught. The Israelis know what they are doing here and they know how to play it.

I would refer you to the current leaks disclosing the U.S has spied on France, Germany and Japan. Stones and glass houses springs to mind.

The US spies on everybody. But, the damage is relative. I was working counter intelligence in the national capital region during the Pollard investigation. Some serious stuff was done and I was not high enough up in the operation to be read-on to exactly what. He sold the information. He was at the time only a US citizen.

[up-country_sinclair]

The Obama administration has let numerous terrorists go free. At least this guy did his 30 years.

Would that be tried and convicted terrorists?

Of course not, but distinctions such as this are of no importance to those whose default is to put the interests of Israel before America.

We'll never know how many Americans and operatives working on America's behalf were killed or put into mortal danger due to this traitor. Thank heavens the Reagan administration took a hard line on this.

Pollard should have been put to death the instant he was found guilty.

Edited August 5, 2015 by up-country_sinclair

[Pakboong]

“I couldn’t resist the temptation,” Rafi Eitan, who recruited Mr. Pollard, told me in 2006. “We’re talking about material that was of such high quality, so accurate and so important to the security of the state. My appetite for getting more and more of it got the better of me.”