Pollard and Obama's visit to Israel

President Obama is visiting Israel this week. Over the next few days, I will post on why the trip is important. However, in the meantime, I want to drop a quick note concerning the escalating Israeli pressure on Obama to release Jonathan Pollard. These Israeli demands are nothing new. Regardless, for two key reasons they annoy me a great deal.

1) Pollard is a convicted traitor. He betrayed our country in order to provide intelligence to another state. There are few crimes as serious. The fact that Israel is our ally is irrelevant. Pollard swore an oath to the United States. Like Kiriakou, he betrayed that oath. He deserves to be in prison.

2) The Israeli intelligence operation which ran Pollard was an inexcusable act against the United States. The United States is Israel's one enduring ally. I support this relationship - for reasons of morality and historic strategic kinship, Israel deserves American support. I also understand and respect why the Israelis have traditionally adopted an aggressive security strategy. But the United States deserves reciprocal respect. We do not deserve to have the Israelis acting against us in such an aggressive fashion. Especially in reference to HUMINT asset procurement. Certainly not on American soil.

In short, it's an audacious act of disrespect for the Israelis to demand that we release Pollard. Fortunately, it's highly unlikely that Pollard will be released. To do so would produce extreme disquiet in the US intelligence community. Indeed, former CIA Director Tenet once told President Clinton that he would resign if Pollard was released. 

Tenet's position was correct.

 I agree with the Prosecutor.

Israel Allegations (Continued)

Israeli Government has issued a denial. Will wait for further information.

Israel Espionage Allegations

If these allegations are true, then the US should have been much more robust in our protests to the Israeli Government. Covertly associating the US with terrorists is intolerable. 


The US relationship with Israel must be based on trust and honesty - arguably the two most important factors for any close friendship. False flag operations without the consent of the 'flag' nation (in this case the US) pose serious moral and political questions. Such actions unjustly associate one party as responsible for the actions of another (thus endangering the first party's interests/citizens) and undercut the notion of an intelligence relationship that is based on mutual respect. Israel acted in a similar (albeit less serious) manner in 2010 vis-a-vis the UK. This suggests a worrying trend.


Faced with a variable array of state/non-state enemies, Israel has the right to pursue independent intelligence operations. However, for the sake of both Israel and her allies, these actions must not come at the expense of long-term friendships.