Convicted spy Jonathan Pollard had an escape plan in place for him to flee to Israel but bungled it by seeking asylum at the Israeli Embassy in Washington instead, his former Israeli handler said in an interview aired Monday.
Pollard was a civilian intelligence analyst for the U.S. Navy when he gave Israel thousands of classified documents, the extent of which has never been fully revealed. Pollard, now 60, was arrested in 1985 and later sentenced to life in prison. Several Israeli requests to have him released have been rejected. He will be eligible for parole next year.
It remains one of the most embarrassing and damaging episodes in Israel-American relations and many details of the case remain a mystery nearly 30 years later.
In an interview with Israeli Channel 2 TV’s investigative program “Uvda,” former Mossad agent Rafi Eitan gave a rare glimpse into the events. Eitan said that once Pollard began to raise suspicions, he gave him the signal for a prearranged escape plan that would get him safely out of the United States.
Instead, Pollard waited three days before arriving unannounced at the Israeli embassy, asking for asylum.
“I got the call that he is waiting at the entrance of the embassy … and I immediately said ‘throw him out.’ I don’t regret it,” he said. “The minute the man decided to come to the embassy …. he decided for himself that he is going to prison.”
Eitan argued that giving Pollard refuge in the face of U.S. law enforcement would have created an even greater crisis between the United States and Israel.
Eitan took the heat for the fiasco, saying he acted on his own and resigned as head of an Israeli intelligence agency known as the Scientific Relations Office — which was later disbanded entirely.
In the interview, Eitan hinted that despite denials, Israel’s political leadership was fully aware of his actions and that he himself suggested that he “be sacrificed.”
“I said I will take all the responsibility on me,” he said.
(AP)
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3 Responses
All jews working in classified jobs have had this botch up hovering over their heads
Rafi Eitan is finally half admitting his culpability.
This is rather different than John Loftus’ version
John Loftus, with all his hyperbole and sensationalism, is a worthy read on this
SHAME ON YESHIVA WORLD FOR REPEATING LIES!!!!!!
Pollard’s “Missed Escape Plan” is pure fiction
Why is media misdirecting attention away from the real news about Jonathan Pollard?
J4JPnews – December 2, 2014
Justin Kaisse (aka Justin4J4JP) Facebook Manager for J4JP submitted the following comment to JTA:
RE: “Pollard rejected escape plan, former handler says” (JTA news, December 2, 2014)
Why are informed media focusing on utter fiction purported to have occurred 30 years ago when breaking news on Pollard is screaming for attention and crying out for justice? I refer to the fact that Pollard is now sitting in prison on false charges.
Here is the truth about the purported “escape plan” as well as the real news story which JTA has not reported:
THERE WAS NO ESCAPE PLAN
1) Publishing reinvented, fiction as history does no credit to JTA or to its readers
First of all, there was no escape plan. Period. If Ilana Dayaan (the show’s producer where this news first aired in an interview with Rafi Eitan) had wanted the truth, she could have confirmed it with Pollard’s ex-wife, who is in Israel and who also fell victim because there was no escape plan. But Ilana Dayaan was interested in ratings, not truth.
The truth is, during the 3 days referred to (which is the time which Eitan claims Jonathan frittered away and blew the escape plan) Jonathan was already under investigation, and he was being intensively interrogated by US Naval Intelligence and the FBI. On orders from Israel, Jonathan was deliberately misleading his interrogators to allow the rest of the Israeli team time to escape to Israel. Jonathan’s orders from Eitan were to go to the Embassy (after the rest of the team was safely out of the country) to seek asylum and Israel would pull him out of the US. Eitan knew that Jonathan would be tailed by FBI every step of the way to the Embassy because he was already under investigation. All of this is documented on the J4JP website http://www.jonathanpollard.org and has been known for years!
Why are informed media focusing on utter fiction purported to have occurred 30 years ago when breaking news on Pollard is screaming for attention and crying out for,justice? I refer to the fact that Pollard is now sitting in prison on false charges.
Here is the real news story which JTA has not reported:
THE PAROLE PROCESS FAILED
2) Jonathan Pollard was denied parole because of a lie. The unjust, subverted parole process was exposed as an unmitigated failure by 8 senior US officials who know the classified file. Why doesn’t the JTA report any of this? Instead JTA makes a mockery by saying only that the Parole Commission will hear his case again next year!
Jonathan Pollard is sitting in prison because of a lie, so say 8 US officials fully familiar with the classified file and with the unjust parole process.The only remedy that remains if justice is to prevail, say the officials, is presidential clemency in the form of commutation of Pollard’s sentence. The 8 US officials write in their letter to Obama as follows:
“As former officials of the US government who served our country with pride, we take no pride in the ongoing miscarriage of justice which has deprived Mr. Pollard of his right to fair and equal treatment before the law. Mr. Pollard committed a serious offense and justifiably received a severe sentence. Efforts to secure commutation of Mr. Pollard’s life sentence began in earnest only after Mr. Pollard had served 20 years as a model prisoner and adequately expressed remorse. It is clear that his sentence is far more severe than others in the US convicted of the same offense. We are deeply troubled that his grossly disproportionate sentence is now continuing into a 30th year of incarceration with no end in sight.
“Denying a man his freedom based on a claim of damage that is patently false while ignoring exculpatory documentary evidence and hiding behind a veil of secret evidence is neither fair nor just, and it simply is not the American way. It is precisely for cases like this which clearly deviate from the standard of American justice – and compassion – that our nation prides itself on, that the Constitution grants the president of the United States virtually unlimited powers of executive clemency.
“We therefore strongly urge you, Mr. President, to tolerate no further delay in rectifying an injustice that has gone on for far too long. We urge you to act expeditiously to commute Mr. Pollard’s life sentence to the 29 years which he has already served. ”
This letter is the urgent, compelling, current news. It begs the question: why is the blatant injustice to Jonathan Pollard being pointedly ignored by supposedly responsible media, as his very lifeblood ebbs away? Doesn’t anybody care that he is being kept in prison on a false charge?
Worse still, why is the news focus being so blatantly misdirected to foolish, fictional past history and hearsay, instead of sounding the alarm about a pernicious travesty of justice that may, if allowed to continue much longer, claim the life of Jonathan Pollard?
See Also:
Haaretz: Senior US Officials: Charges used keep Pollard in prison “patently false”
Video: Top US Officials: Free Jonathan Pollard Now!
PDF Document: Letter by 8 Senior US Officials slamming “unjust denial of parole” to Jonathan Pollard
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PRAY TELL HOW DO YOU PRINT A STORY CLAIMING RAFI EITAN IS TAKING RESPONSIBILITY when his bullcookies story blames the victim, and when Eitan has done NOTHING for 30 years to help Pollard?????
Don’t you investigate?
Don’t you have access to material from Justice for Jonathan Pollard.
How could you just repeat such lies without doing any homework.
There are some sins that Yom Kippur does not atone for.