The American Department of Justice has rejected an official request from Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu (Likud) to permit Prisoner of Zion Jonathan Pollard to serve out the remainder of his parole time in Israel.
An Israeli Channel 2 report aired Wednesday, on the 33rd anniversary of Pollard’s arrest by the FBI, said Netanyahu had been working for months with the United States Justice Department to ensure Pollard’s transfer to Israel, but the request was denied due to “the severity of Pollard’s crimes.”
Pollard was a US Naval intelligence analyst who, in the early 1980s, discovered information that Syria, Iraq, Libya and Iran were developing weapons of mass destruction with the intention of attacking Israel.
When bringing this information to the attention of his superiors, Pollard discovered that certain elements within the American intelligence establishment were deliberately withholding this information from the Israeli government despite Jerusalem being entitled to the intelligence according to a 1983 Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries.
According to high level Washington officials at the time, President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H.W. Bush had been violating the memorandum in order to make Israel increasingly dependent on Washington in matters of national defense.
Once aware of the administration’s betrayal, Pollard took it upon himself to warn Jerusalem of the threat. Israel in turn took the necessary actions to neutralize the dangers but Prime Minister Shimon Peres (Labor) ordered Pollard’s handlers to abandon him to the FBI in order to avoid a diplomatic confrontation with Washington.
In an effort to avoid a long and potentially embarrassing trial, both the US and Israel urged Pollard to enter into a plea agreement. Although the usual punishment for Pollard’s offense is up to four years in prison and although the whistle blower was promised a light sentence in exchange for his cooperation, Pollard was condemned to life behind bars, a punishment considered excessive for passing even highly sensitive information to a friendly country.
Pollard was paroled on November 20, 2015, following 30 years in prison, but is still barred from leaving New York.
As part of his parole conditions, he wears a GPS monitoring system and must adhere to a 7pm to 7am curfew in his home.
In May 2017, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejected Pollard’s appeal to ease his parole conditions. His poor health was also rejected as a reason for permitting him to move home to Israel.
