Posted on 05/17/2005 6:49:09 AM PDT by Destro
17 May 2005 11:14:42 GMT
Israelis 'hopeful' on release for U.S. spy Pollard
By Dan Williams
JERUSALEM, May 17 (Reuters) - Israel expects imminent progress in its bid to secure the release of Jonathan Pollard, an ex-U.S. Navy intelligence analyst convicted of spying for the Jewish state in the 1980s, political sources said on Tuesday.
They said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, keen to shore up support among Israeli right-wingers split by his plan to withdraw from the occupied Gaza Strip this summer, raised the issue with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last month.
Israel's ambassador to Washington, Danny Ayalon, was to meet Pollard in prison on Tuesday -- the first such visit by an Israeli envoy -- to deliver an "expression of concern" from Sharon, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
"We believe and hope there will be progress in the matter of Pollard during the summer," a source in Sharon's office said.
Past U.S. administrations have stood firm in the face of Israeli appeals to free Pollard, who was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 1986 for passing secrets to Israel.
Former CIA director George Tenet reportedly threatened to quit in 1998 after then-U.S. President Bill Clinton agreed to review the case, which jarred Israel's ties with its chief ally.
Tenet's successor Porter Goss, then a congressman, in 1999 sponsored a House resolution demanding Pollard be kept behind bars, saying: "The amount of information he sold is immense, the American lives he has put at risk are irreplaceable and the damage he did to our national security is incalculable."
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom told reporters last week that he and Sharon had decided "concrete action" was needed on Pollard. "Twenty years in jail is a long time," Shalom said.
Pollard's lawyer said the Israeli ambassador's jail visit suggested Israel was "treating the matter seriously".
"The significance of this is in stepping up the importance of the issue," attorney Larry Dub told Israel's Army Radio. "Until now, something that would not have been too costly, sending the ambassador, had not happened."
Asked about the renewed Israeli efforts to free Pollard, the spokesman for the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv declined comment.
Israel has said Pollard was recruited by a maverick intelligence unit, which was dismantled after the scandal broke.
Earlier this month, U.S. Defence Department analyst Larry Franklin was arrested on charges of disclosing top-secret information on potential attacks on American forces in Iraq to two employees of the pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC.
Sharon, who is to address AIPAC -- the American Israel Public Affairs Committee -- in Washington next week, has said Israel had no involvement in the Franklin case.
I put money on it that it does happen. Maybe by Bush, but almost certainly if Hillary is elected.
Do you think she'd pass up an opportunity to pander to the Jewish voters at this point?
Particularly when you consider that Bubba sprung Puerto Rican terrorists for her.
I just skimmed this article. Thank you.
Ah, just give him back to Israel already...
...minus his head of course.
I could care less why they spy on us. That's like trying to explain why Muslims kill Americans. I could care less. As in Iraq there should be a price you pay when you support hostile action against the US. My tax dollars should not be used to support a foreign country's espionage against my own country. Surely you must see the absurdity in this. I'm pissed that Israel even has the gall to ask for Pollard's release. I don't know who sees us as the bigger sucker Vicente Fox or Ariel Sharon.
Pollard is the only one who can open the safe in Jerusalem where about half the secrets he stole are hidden. The safe is rigged with destruction devices should it be "tinkered" with, so Pollard is necessary. The Israelis already have buyers for most of what Pollard stole but need him to finish the package and seal the deal.
If my country was less than a 100 miles wide and I had vastly larger hostile populations on all sides, I'd be spyin' on EVERYBODY who might affect the outcome of a war!
(Or I'd move...)
Pollard's release is necessary to keep the other Israeli spies in the US happy and stealing. This is a major subject every year at the Israeli spy temwork building meeting held, of course, in a secret place in Virginia. The other spies all kvetch about what is being done to release Pollard so he can enjoy the fruits of his crimes.
And you'd make that decision based on the interest of your country. My decision as a citizen of this country would be to cut off all funds to any country that steals my countries secrets and puts its citizens in harms way. I would also let it be known that any spy caught in my country would be terminated. Immediately.
Release him with a trebuchet.
Hmmm. Did you know that the UK and the USA have a spying agreement? The UK spys on domestic Americans - the CIA spys on Brits. Seems both organizations are forbidden to spy on their own citizens and get around it in that way.
Likewise the US and the Israel. My understanding is that we get a lot of information out of Israeli Intelligence. It would shock my friends to hear me say it, but in espionage, it is awfully hard to find "black and white."
That said, I'd shoot traitors like Pollard, too. Makes a good example.
Well said...ditto. To think that Pollard's release is even being discussed in the wake of another Israeli spy scandal which is developing.
One thing I can admire about the Israelis. They take care of the people trying to take care of them.
Meanwhile, Israel is probably going to end up throwing Mordecai Vannunu back in jail for violating the terms of his parole (he blew the whistle on Israel's nuclear secrets and spent 18 years in jail in Israel after the Mossad set a trap and nabbed him abroad).
If Pollard should be released, why would Vannunu have to go back to jail?
If what you say is true, and I have my doubts, I'm sure that agreement would not include the type of military secrets Pollard handed over to Isreal and who knows who else.
The hammer has hit the nail!
Dear Israel,
If it's really important, we'll tell you. Now stop biting the hand that feeds you.
Signed, America.
Apples and oranges. The huge---and I do mean huge----difference in what Pollard did, and what the latest Pentagon spy, Larry Franklin did, is in violating the SOP for country-to-country spying.
The SOP is that countries who have spying agreements with the US are required to advise the CIA about their activities.
This means that Pollard---and the AIPAC-Pentagon treachery---were very, very serious threats to US national security, since these operatives deliberately chose to keep their spying activities secret from US intel. Obviously, the operation was over and above the usual country-to-country spying.
Oops. I guess they'll have to kill me, now that I've outed the scheme. (Yawn) gosh, I'm so scared (snore).
Not to worry. I've already notified Scotland Yard, Interpol, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the DOJ, CIA, FBI, state, local and county law enforcement----and I named names.........just in case lurkers are taking notes (smirk).
why thank you
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