Behind the Pollard Affair

ааааааааааа The Jonathan Pollard espionage affair was not the Уrogue operationФ of some Mossad enthusiasts, as the Government headed by Prime Minister Shimon Peres wanted the world to believe back in 1985.а The Mossad is directly under the authority of the prime minister, who is ultimately responsible for Mossad operations.а In this case, moreover, PeresТs Defense Minister, the late Yitzhak Rabin, was personally involved in the Pollard operation.а It was Defense Minister RabinТs responsibility to obtain vital information about the military capabilities of IsraelТs Middle East enemies, Iraq in particular.а In any other parliamentary regime, the bungled Pollard operation would have forced Labor leaders Rabin and Peres to resign.

ааааааааааа Soon after the Pollard operation broke, Abba Eban was appointed to head a commission of inquiry.а His findings were hardly flattering to the leaders of IsraelТs Labor Party, Messrs. Rabin and Peres.а Which is why the eloquent Mr. Eban soon thereafter ceased to be a member of the Labor PartyТs contingent in the Knesset.а (As Mr. Peres unabashedly remarked, it was EbanТs duty to absolve his party leaders from any culpability in the Pollard affair!)

ааааааааааа Now, when the Pentagon demanded the return of the classified documents which PollardТs УhandlersФ had transmitted to Defense Minister Rabin, the latter readily obliged.а Indeed, he publicly boasted of his cooperation with the Pentagon, stating he had returned some 126 documents to the Americans.а These documents, by the way, bore PollardТs finger prints -- devastating evidence.

ааааааааааа Aside from Casper Weinberger, of the various individuals responsible for PollardТs prolonged incarceration, few bear more responsibility than the departed Yitzhak Rabin.а But now that Rabin has been sanctified by the Labor Party -- it serves to demonize the Right and the Religious --а no one is about to investigate Saint RabinТs culpability in the Pollard affair.

ааааааааааа Incidentally, itТs inconceivable that in 1995, when Mr. Rabin served both as Prime Minister and Defense Minister, that he did not know of the Shin BetТs use of Avishai Raviv as an agent provocateur whose objective was to defame RabinТs right-wing critics.а Indeed, given RavivТs incitement of Yigal Amir, Mr. Rabin, for all we know, may have been responsible for his own assassination.а I mention this because PollardТs on-going imprisonment may be linked to an insidious УunderstandingФ between the Labor Party and the government of the United States.

ааааааааааа PollardТs release may open a PandoraТs box.а It could lead to revelations of profound corruption in the Reagan and Bush Administrations as regards the sale of military technology to Iraq.а That benign American policy toward Iraq may have encouraged Saddam Hussein to invade Kuwait in 1991.а Indeed, CIA incompetence may prove to have contributed to the Persian Gulf War!

ааааааааааа PollardТs release may also lead to embarrassing revelations about the Labor Party, particularly Mr. Peres.а President Clinton has a personal interest in preserving PeresТs reputation in view of the latterТs role in concluding the Oslo or Israel-PLO Declaration of Principles; and of course Peres hasа a close relationship to Yasir Arafat on whom the success of Oslo depends.аа Oslo, is should be borne in mind, was co-sponsored by Clinton and embodies his hope for a Nobel Peace Prize as well as for a conspicuous place in the history books.а (Allow me to say in passing that what most animates Bill Clinton and Shimon Peres is not the love of peace but self-love or ego-gratification.)

ааааааааааа It will be remembered that Clinton actively sought PeresТs re-election in IsraelТs May 1996 national elections.а His State Department has repeatedly obscured ArafatТs violation of the Oslo and Wye River agreements on the one had, while blaming Prime Benjamin Netanyahu for failing to abide by those agreements on the other.а ItТs reasonable to conclude that Clinton has no desire to see Netanyahu win the May 1999 national elections, and that he will do nothing that might credit Netanyahu with Jonathan PollardТs release.а This may well be the reason why Labor leader Ehud Barak refused to sign with Netanyahu a letter to Clinton urging him to grant Pollard a presidential pardon.

ааааааааааа Without elaborating, this article contains various clues as to what should be done to improve the chances of JonathanТs release.а While appeals to justice should not be omitted, considerations of justice have failed to liberate Jonathan from his unjustly prolonged incarceration.а Much stronger ammunition is needed, ammunition which threatens persons and parties.

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