Jonathan Pollard Urges "Dual Loyalty" And Spying For Israel

Jonathan Pollard, who as a civilian intelligence analyst for the U.S. Navy in the 1980s was found guilty of spying for Israel and served 30 years in prison, not only has no regrets for his action but urges other American Jews to follow in his footsteps.

Now a resident of Israel, which he considers his real “home,” Pollard was interviewed by the Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom (March 25, 2021). He said, “The bottom line on this charge of dual loyalty is, I’m sorry, we’re Jews, and if we’re Jews we will always have dual loyalty.” Pollard said Jews were deluding themselves if they thought of America as their home. He suggested that he would counsel a young Jewish American working in an American security agency to spy for Israel, as he did.

“I would tell him,” Pollard said, “that not doing anything is unacceptable. So simply going home (to Israel) is not acceptable... You have to make a decision whether your concern for Israel and loyalty to Israel and loyalty to your fellow Jews is more important than your life.”

Pollard was paroled from his life sentence in 2015 and arrived in Israel last year. He was met at the airport by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He arrived on a private plane provided by the late casino mogul Sheldon Adelson. Adelson once said that he regretted having served in the U.S. Army rather than the Israeli military.

Jonathan Pollard grew up in a family committed to Zionism. He recalls that at his synagogue “there were two flags: a U.S. and an Israeli one. That’s how I was raised.” He was told that Israel was the “homeland” of all Jews and that he was in “exile” in America. In his extensive espionage for Israel, his actions seemed consistent with the Zionist philosophy he had learned. **