Jonathan Pollard, an American who was sentenced to 30 years for treason for Israel and who moved to Israel in December after the end of his parish, gave grim comments on Jewish double fidelity and the FBI in a recent interview published on Thursday.
“American Jews have one major problem: they consider themselves more American than they do,” Pollard told Israel Hayom daily.
Asked how he felt about the U.S. accusation of bipartisanship, Pollard did not take issue with the title. “If you don’t like the accusation of double loyalty, go home the f ***,” he said non-stop.
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“It’s as simple as that.” If you live in a country where you are always under that responsibility, you will not be there. You go home. You will come home. if you[‘re] outside Israel, then you live in a society in which you are fundamentally deemed unreliable. The bottom line on this allegation is double loyalty, I am sorry, we are speculating, and if we are afraid, we will always have double loyalty, “he said.
And he suggested that, if he sought advice, he would give advice to a young U.S. Jew working in the American security apparatus to spy on Israel.
“I would say to him, that nothing can be done. So just go home [to Israel] will not be accepted. Aliyah is unacceptable, ”said Pollard. “You need to decide if your concern for Israel and loyalty to Israel and loyalty to fellow human beings are more important than your life.
“If you do nothing, and turn your back, or just do aliyah, and go on with your life, you will be nothing better than those people who said before and after the destruction of the Temple, ‘It’s not up to me. ‘”
Pollard, now 66, sold military secrets to Israel while working as a civilian intelligence analyst for the U.S. Navy in the 1980s. He was arrested in 1985 after unsuccessfully trying to obtain asylum at the Israeli embassy in Washington and pleaded guilty. The spying relationship embarrassed Israel and damaged its relationship with the United States for years.
Jonathan Pollard, pictured December 17, 1997, at the Federal Correctional Institute in Butner, North Carolina. (Photo AP / Ayala Bar)
Pollard was sentenced to life. U.S. defense and intelligence officials said his stabbing caused extensive damage and argued strongly against his release. But after serving 30 years in federal prison, he was released in 2015 and put on a five-year parole period. Pollard reached Israel to a heroic welcome in December.
He told Israel Hayom, after his arrest, that his FBI interrogators gave him a book with the names of “pro-Jewish” individuals and asked him to identify the the suspects were linked to Israeli intelligence.
“It reminded me of the book the Nazis had to invade England with the names of enemies. “
“[They said], ‘You don’t have to give evidence, you don’t have to give evidence in court, nothing, just put a check mark next to the name.’ I did not speak to him, “Pollard recalled.
The former spy said he was given a cold shoulder from U.S. Jewish leaders after his arrest.
“His idea was, ‘Get the hell out of us. You have already shown where your loyalty was, ‘”he said.
Eventually, U.S. Jewish leadership diminished in his outlook, and some Jewish leaders lobbied for Pollard’s release, saying his life sentence was excessive.
Pollard suggested that suspects put themselves away if they thought of America as their home.
“And I will always have an argument with these people: I have said that I have a loyalty to the Jews and to the Jewish state. And they said, ‘Well, you don’t belong here.’ I said, ‘Barur [obviously]. I don’t belong here, I said one by one. You should go home. His response was, ‘We are home. This is the exile, this is the United States. ‘”
Israel Hayom was founded by the late casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who also took a private plane to take Pollard and his wife to Israel in December, shortly before his death. The newspaper said it would publish its full interview with Pollard on Friday.
JTA contributed to this report.
