JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Former Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard said Sunday that Israel should destroy the Palestinian town of Hawara in the West Bank, but without killing anyone, in response to the terror attack that killed two brothers over a week ago.
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“It’s up to the government right now to reestablish credibility, not only with our own people, but with our enemies as well, and that means unfortunately for some that Huwara must be destroyed,” Pollard told the Kan public broadcaster at a memorial service for Hallel Yaniv, 21, and Yagel Yaniv, 19, in Jerusalem.
“These graves mark the end of two wonderful men. The destruction of Hawara will mark the beginning of our reconquest of our land,” he added.
Pollard, who moved to Israel with his first wife Esther to Israel in 2020 prior to her passing early in 2022, also told Kan on Sunday he believed that “our enemies only understand decisive retaliation,” warranting the destruction of the village.
“God forbid, no one should die in this process, but the village of hate that celebrated the death of these two men and hid the terrorists who murdered them should be punished,” he said, adding, “some say, well it’s collective punishment. Well, I’m sorry, but the murderers were acting on behalf of a people, and a government.”
Asked if he trusted the government, Pollard replied: “After my experiences, are you kidding me? Who are you asking? Trust a government? No, I trust the people and I trust the land, I trust God.
“I already learned a terrible lesson in that regard,” he added.
As an intelligence analyst in the US Navy’s counterterrorism center, Pollard passed thousands of top secret US documents to Israel, straining relations between the two close allies.
He was arrested in 1985, convicted of espionage, and sentenced to life in prison two years later, despite pleading guilty in a deal his attorneys had expected would result in a more lenient sentence.
He was eventually released in 2015, but was kept in the United States by parole rules and not allowed to travel to Israel.
For several years, he remained subject to a curfew, had to wear a wrist monitor, and was prohibited from working for any company that lacked US government monitoring software on its computer systems. In addition, he was restricted from traveling abroad.
You would think this spy would lay low, if only to not further damage in the relationship with the US.
Collective punishment is un-Torah…
Not bad it’s a good start. But they don’t understand it they will see it as weakness. And fear of world opinion
The government was extremely vindictive against Pollard, after his release from prison in 2015, after serving thirty long years. He could have been totally freed at that point without any further parole restrictions, as thirty years (including years in solitary confinement), was more than enough punishment. Instead, the government decided to punish him even more. For five years, he had to live in a cramped apartment, and walk up several flights of stairs, since there was no elevator. In addition to wearing a monitoring device, he was forced to check in with the authorities even on Shabbos and Yom Tov, by telephone. He couldn’t even leave Manhattan, or travel a small distance from his apartment, for five long years. There was absolutely no security basis, for those despicable restrictions. Even as 2020 approached, the government was still thinking of extending those parole restrictions another five years. Trump could have freed Pollard from those archaic restrictions in 2017, in the same manner that he commuted Rubashkin’s sentence, that same year. I can’t understand why it was not done?
On the mark ! Thank you , Jonathan.