Pollard was, more than anything else, a spy for Pollard. The Navy’s prosecution found that he repeatedly tried to sell Pakistan secrets, which in the following decade became the first Islamic state to build nuclear arms, and is no friend of Israel. He gave secrets to South Africa, which in the 1960s helped Israel become a nuclear power….
His motive in these cases was not tied to Israel’s interests, but rather those of his wallet….
The only question here is which is worse: Pollard’s treachery or Obama’s self-serving ploy in releasing him.
CBS MarketWatch ran an op-ed by Fred Burton, “one of the world’s foremost authorities on security and terrorism, under the headline: U.S. release of Israeli spy is a reminder of a deep betrayal.
Burton wrote:
The discovery of the Pollard affair came as a stunning blow, deeply disrupting the trust between U.S. intelligence agencies and Mossad.
At the time, U.S. and Israeli intelligence cooperated closely. We frequently shared information with our Israeli counterparts through informal channels, wherein representatives from U.S. agencies would meet with Israeli intelligence, defense and police officials to communicate intelligence priorities or possible security threats. And we often aided and supported Israeli intelligence at their request.
For example, in the course of debriefing hostages held by Hezbollah in Lebanon, we would routinely ask questions on behalf of the Israelis about their missing pilot Lt. Col. Ron Arad. In short, we in the national security business believed our friendship with Israel was far deeper than the veneer of diplomatic niceties.
We were wrong.