White House denies connection between Pollard parole, Iran deal

Jonathan Pollard is pictured, six years after his 1985 arrest. Because of Pollard’s nearly assured release in November, there would have to be another focus for any deal to be worth it for Israel. While working as a civilian Navy analyst, he copied and gave to his Israeli handlers enough classified documents to fill a walk-in closet.

Now, the WSJ reports, some U.S. officials are pushing for Pollard’s release in a matter of weeks.

Pollard has served almost 30 years in prison on charges of spying for Israel and is up for parole in November.

Pollard’s parole board reportedly held its final hearing last week and is slated to take a final vote on his release in the near future.

Although allies, the United States and Israel have longed engaged in aggressive espionage operations against one another as each tried to anticipate the other’s moves on an array of sensitive issues in the Middle East. And at one point, Melissa, the Central Intelligence Agency director, George Tenet at the time, threatened to quit over Pollard’s release according to Tenet’s own book.

US intelligence officials are said to strongly oppose Pollard’s release, particularly if it is done as part of a diplomatic exchange instead of a tit-for-tat trade of spies, the preferred method of settling long-standing detention of spies.

National Security Council spokesman Alistair Baskey said the decision has nothing to do with the Iran deal, but instead was a recognition that Pollard met the conditions for release.

Minister of Sport and Culture Miri Regev stated that Pollard deserved to be freed regardless of of the bad deal that was forged earlier this month between Iran and the world powers in Vienna. Critics – including prosecutors and government officials – call him a traitor who damaged the nation by disclosing a treasure trove of sensitive documents. But while Obama administration officials have previously emphasized that they expected Pollard to serve out his term, on Friday a Justice Department spokesman punctuated that sentiment with the caveat, “which in this case is a 30-year sentence as mandated by statute”. But federal officials rejected that idea.

It is far more likely that releasing Pollard is for the benefit of American Jews, in particular Democrats (but I repeat myself), many of whom must have deep misgivings about a nuclear Iran.