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Source: Mondoweiss
BY JAMES NORTH AND PHILIP WEISS | DECEMBER 30, 2020
BY JAMES NORTH AND PHILIP WEISS | DECEMBER 30, 2020
NETANYAHU GREETS JONATHAN POLLARD AT ISRAELI AIRPORT IN MIDDLE OF NIGHT. POLLARD'S WIFE ESTHER IS KISSING THE GROUND, CENTER. SCREENSHOT FROM VIDEO ON NETANYAHU'S TWITTER FEED.
The news today is that Jonathan Pollard, the former Navy intelligence analyst who spent 30 years in prison for spying for Israel, flew to that country and got a hero's reception in the middle of the night at the airport by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu went to the steps at the plane and handing Pollard, who is Jewish, an Israeli I.D. card, said, "You're home."
The amazement is that Netanyahu participated in this staged drama, putting up video on his twitter account of Pollard and his wife kissing the ground as the PM met them. Whatever domestic political value the drama had, the Prime Minister is sticking his thumb in the eye of the American security establishment, which despised Pollard, who spent 30 years in prison here for his crimes.
American Israel supporters regularly tell us that it is in the U.S. national interest to support Israel right or wrong and give the country $4 billion in aid a year. Rep. Ted Deutch said it last week,
Americans died because of Pollard's crimes, according to prosecutor Joseph DiGenova (in the Los Angeles Times):
Adelson has said that he wishes he had served in the Israeli army not the American army.
And Trump has fulfilled every pro-Israel Ask on Adelson's wishlist in exchange for 100s of millions of campaign contributions — from killing the Iran deal to legalizing illegal Israel settlements to defunding Palestinian refugees to moving the Embassy to Jerusalem. The only thing Trump hasn’t delivered is a war with Iran, but he's got a few weeks to go. . .
"One of, if not THE, biggest American political donors gave a VERY expensive ride to a man convicted of espionage against the United States. This seems like a big deal," says Eli Clifton.
No, it's just the ongoing scandal in plain sight: the Israel lobby using money to sway U.S. Middle East policy, against the best interests of the American people.
Netanyahu once said the U.S. is "something that can be easily moved," and he appears to know what he is talking about. As Susan Abulhawa commented today, "Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, and Julian Assange are locked up and/or in fear for their lives, while this criminal gets a free pass to go colonize in my homeland."
At least the New York Times article on Pollard’s trip highlights Netanyahu's bizarre middle of the night ceremony and Adelson's airplane and openly mentions the "dual loyalty suspicion" that Pollard's advocacy created. "[O]thers faulted [Pollard] for having created enormous problems for Jews in the United States government who felt that their loyalties had been suddenly called into question."
Please go to Mondoweiss to read the entire article.
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The amazement is that Netanyahu participated in this staged drama, putting up video on his twitter account of Pollard and his wife kissing the ground as the PM met them. Whatever domestic political value the drama had, the Prime Minister is sticking his thumb in the eye of the American security establishment, which despised Pollard, who spent 30 years in prison here for his crimes.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed Jonathan and Esther Pollard upon their arrival in Israel, early this morning. The Prime Minister was moved to meet them on the tarmac next to the plane where they recited the Shehecheyanu blessing together. https://t.co/jfZ4WseH3g pic.twitter.com/6Xno3yJPdY
— PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) December 30, 2020
American Israel supporters regularly tell us that it is in the U.S. national interest to support Israel right or wrong and give the country $4 billion in aid a year. Rep. Ted Deutch said it last week,
"Some of my colleagues want to shift the conversation on Israel and talk about withholding aid and punitive measures. It's up to all of us to explain why it's not in our interest to do that. . . I don't think it’s in our interest to start putting restrictions on aid that might impact Israel's ability to protect innocent civilians."Actually US interests and Israeli ones depart all the time from one another, and Netanyahu just underlined the fact, embracing a guy whom seven secretaries of Defense said they didn't want freed because he had committed such serious offenses.
Americans died because of Pollard's crimes, according to prosecutor Joseph DiGenova (in the Los Angeles Times):
DiGenova said that U.S. intelligence authorities suspect that some of the material obtained from Pollard was bartered to the Soviet Union in return for the release of Soviet Jews to Israel, and that U.S. intelligence "assets" in the Soviet Union were compromised and possibly killed as a result.Pollard was freed from prison five years ago but lived under travel restrictions. Trump lifted those restrictions a few weeks ago, and today we learn that Pollard was flown to Israel on a plane owned by Sheldon Adelson, the biggest Republican donor, whose only issue is Israel.
Adelson has said that he wishes he had served in the Israeli army not the American army.
And Trump has fulfilled every pro-Israel Ask on Adelson's wishlist in exchange for 100s of millions of campaign contributions — from killing the Iran deal to legalizing illegal Israel settlements to defunding Palestinian refugees to moving the Embassy to Jerusalem. The only thing Trump hasn’t delivered is a war with Iran, but he's got a few weeks to go. . .
"One of, if not THE, biggest American political donors gave a VERY expensive ride to a man convicted of espionage against the United States. This seems like a big deal," says Eli Clifton.
No, it's just the ongoing scandal in plain sight: the Israel lobby using money to sway U.S. Middle East policy, against the best interests of the American people.
Netanyahu once said the U.S. is "something that can be easily moved," and he appears to know what he is talking about. As Susan Abulhawa commented today, "Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, and Julian Assange are locked up and/or in fear for their lives, while this criminal gets a free pass to go colonize in my homeland."
At least the New York Times article on Pollard’s trip highlights Netanyahu's bizarre middle of the night ceremony and Adelson's airplane and openly mentions the "dual loyalty suspicion" that Pollard's advocacy created. "[O]thers faulted [Pollard] for having created enormous problems for Jews in the United States government who felt that their loyalties had been suddenly called into question."
Please go to Mondoweiss to read the entire article.
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Despite decades of espionage and spying going on in America by Israel, the US is a dollar spigot to Israel.
For more background into the Jonathan Pollard espionage case the following material has been archived:
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