After 35 Years, Former Spy Jonathan Pollard Arrives in Israel

Controversial figure landed overnight with no prior announcement and was greeted by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu

Supporters of Jonathan Pollard, a former US Navy analyst and one of the most high-profile spies in history, called his arrival in Israel on Wednesday “long overdue.”

Pollard, 66, served 30 years in federal prison for spying for Israel, an affair that caused tension between Israel and the United States for many years. For the last five years Pollard has lived in a small New York apartment under a restrictive parole.

With no prior announcement, Pollard and his wife, Esther, landed at Ben-Gurion Airport in a private plane early Wednesday morning and were welcomed on the tarmac by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who handed them Israeli national identity cards.

“You’re home,” Netanyahu told the couple after they landed, a video released by the Prime Minister’s Office showed.

“We are ecstatic to be home at last after 35 years and we thank the people and the Prime Minister of Israel for bringing us home,” Pollard said. “No one could be prouder of this country or this leader than we are and we hope to become productive citizens as soon and as quickly as possible and to get on with our lives here.”

Some Israeli advocates of the former spy called his arrival “a dream come true.” Larry Dub, who for 35 years has been Pollard’s pro-bono lawyer in Israel, told The Media Line that he was “thrilled” to hear the news.

“I think he served more [time] than he should have,” Dub said. “Be that as it may, I’m glad he’s finally home.”

Had Pollard’s arrival been publicized and not in the midst of a third national lockdown due to the coronavirus, the attorney added, thousands of Israelis would have been at the airport to greet him.

Pollard was arrested in 1985 for providing Israel with documents containing sensitive military intelligence and was sentenced to life in prison. For years, successive Israeli governments attempted to have his sentence reduced, arguing that it was too severe. Pollard is the only American citizen ever to receive a life sentence for passing classified information to a US ally.

The former US naval analyst was released on parole in 2015 and his parole restrictions were lifted in late November, enabling him to leave the United States.

“I think Mr. Pollard served his time and just like anybody else he’s entitled to a fresh start. That’s exactly what he wants to do: be a regular member of society,” Dub said, adding: “we pray that Esther gets well and that Jonathan fulfills his dreams.”

Esther Pollard was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer last year.

Other supporters also are pleased by Pollard’s arrival.

“This was in the works for a while and I’m really glad, as I think most Israelis are, that Jonathan and his wife are finally here. I think it’s long overdue,” Marc Zell, co-chair of Republicans Overseas Israel and vice president of Republicans Overseas, told The Media Line.

“I’m grateful to the president of the United States and to the prime minister of Israel and all those who have struggled over the years for his release and the ability to return to his people here in Israel,” Zell said.

Zell, an American-Israeli lawyer, argued that the penalties Pollard endured were excessive; nevertheless, he conceded that the former naval analyst’s actions caused a lot of concern among loyal American Jews.

“What he did was problematic from their point of view, but Jonathan had the courage and the physical and mental strength to endure the penalties imposed,” Zell asserted.

While the Pollard affair damaged US-Israel relations, it left a more lasting impact on American Jews’ relationship with the Jewish state. A New York Times poll conducted in 1987 showed that some 61% of US-based Jews felt anger or embarrassment about Pollard, with 54% of respondents saying they believed the affair would lead to a rise in anti-Semitism. Many American Jews with ties to Israel at the time of Pollard’s arrest and conviction had to live with accusations of “dual loyalty.”

“For American Jews who were serving in the government with security clearances, his conviction and all that surrounded it was a problem,” Zell explained, adding that as a dual American-Israeli citizen he also believes that what Pollard did was wrong.

“He paid the price for that,” Zell said. “It was a serious problem, but it’s behind us now.”

While American Jews might feel conflicted about Pollard, the Israeli public is overall enthusiastic and supportive, he added.

I think Mr. Pollard served his time and just like anybody else he’s entitled to a fresh start. That’s exactly what he wants to do: be a regular member of society

Yisrael Medad is a research fellow at the Jerusalem-based Menachem Begin Heritage Center and a former coordinator of the Knesset Lobby on Jonathan Pollard. Medad told The Media Line that he is “very grateful” that Pollard is finally a free man.

“I think an injustice was done to him,” Medad said. “It could have been solved 25 years ago and I’m glad that now he’s breathing free air as a free man.”

Medad, who described Pollard as having a “brilliant brain,” noted that he had visited the former spy in prison on two occasions. Moreover, he also corresponded with Pollard for over a decade when he worked in the Knesset lobby advocating for the Israeli agent’s release.

“I am very sorry that Geulah Cohen, who – together with Edna Solodar – founded the Knesset Lobby on his behalf … died last year and was unable also to share in the joy of this moment,” Medad said.

Cohen, a former Israeli politician and Israel Prize Laureate, died last year at the age of 93. Solodar served as a parliament member for the Labor Party from 1982-1992.

The timing of Pollard’s return, in the midst of Israel’s third nationwide lockdown as it battles a surge in COVID-19 cases, has undoubtedly put a damper on his reception. Many Israelis view the controversial figure as heroic, however Medad believes it would be best for him to maintain a low profile.

“I don’t think we should put up a statue or put up a picture of Pollard in the Knesset, but I think we should be happy,” Medad said. “He fulfilled his complete legal obligation as a prisoner.”

“He served 35 years of a sentence he didn’t have to serve – the longest for passing on information that he shouldn’t have,” he added.

America’s intelligence community long opposed granting Pollard clemency and also accused him of being motivated by money. US government documents show that Pollard was paid between $1,500 and $2,500 on a monthly basis by his Israeli handlers and also received gifts of jewelry.

I don’t think we should put up a statue or put up a picture of Pollard in the Knesset, but I think we should be happy

Marion “Spike” Bowman, a former deputy general counsel for national security law at the FBI, who served as a Pentagon liaison at the time of Pollard’s arrest, told NBC News in an exclusive 2014 interview that Pollard also attempted to sell classified information to other countries in addition to Israel, including Pakistan, South Africa and Australia.

But Medad believes such accusations are baseless.

“They’ve never been proven and were not brought up to trial,” he said. “They were not given a hearing in a legal theater so I view them as malicious rumors until proven.”

Shortly after Pollard’s arrest, Israel denied he had been spying for the country. In 1995, however, Israel granted him citizenship and years later admitted that he had been an Israeli agent. The CIA’s 1987 assessment of the Pollard affair claimed that the former naval intelligence officer stole over 800 documents, some of which reportedly pertained to Soviet military secrets. Pollard’s intelligence also helped Israel to plan a commando raid against the Palestine Liberation Organization headquarters in Tunis in 1985, the CIA said.