Thirty-Nine Congressmen Can’t Be Wrong
A former US Ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer has written a well reasoned op-ed explaining that throwing concessions and gifts to Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu in an attempt to obtain relatively minor concessions on his part is precisely the wrong policy to pursue. Kurtzer notes that the deal will be a major shift in policy "…the first direct benefit that the United States has provided Israel for settlement activities that we have opposed for more than 40 years" and he asks "Does anyone really believe that there is a substantive connection between a three month settlement freeze and Israel’s professed need for more airplanes?"
Netanyahu, who despises President Barack Obama, has rightly seen the cajoling by the United States as weakness and as the consequence of failure by Washington to articulate any coherent policy in the Middle East, meaning that he knows that Israel has been empowered to get away with virtually anything it might demand. Netanyahu has obligingly gone to the whack jobs and wing nuts in his own rickety right wing coalition and asked them to present him with a wish list for Washington, confident that Hanukkah has already begun and Christmas is right around the corner.
The latest demand appears to be freedom for Israeli spy Jonathan Jay Pollard, who is an Israeli citizen, has a holiday named after him, and is regarded as a national hero in many right wing Zionist circles. That Israel is completely dependent on Washington for its security and on the American taxpayer for its high standard of living has never inhibited the country’s security service Mossad from using agents like Pollard to steal everything not nailed down from the United States. Pollard currently is spending his time in a federal prison in North Carolina for walking off with a roomful of American top secrets in exchange for money back in the 1980s. I have already described the astonishing damage that he did as well as the reasons why he should never be released but politicians have short memories and President Obama appears to have no memory at all, so if he is pressed by the friends of Israel to release Pollard he will no doubt contrive some weasel worded explanation why it is in America’s interest to do so. And he will do it with a straight face, almost certainly saying something about peace on earth and good will towards men.
And Obama would not be alone in his beneficence. For those who think it inconceivable that a large number of congressmen might petition seeking clemency for a convicted foreign spy who did enormous damage to the United States, think again. Pollard has recently obtained the services of Barney Frank and thirty-eight other Democratic congressmen who have signed on to a letter coordinated with a number of Jewish groups. They apparently believe that the poor guy has suffered enough in service to his country, which is of course Israel, making one wonder why American politicians should feel the pain. But no matter, as we all know where the faux compassion comes from.
Arguing that Pollard should be released because he was only helping a friend and ally, the incredibly plucky splendid little democracy in the Middle East, has not worked up until now, so the congressmen have adopted a slightly different line. They are arguing that Pollard has shown "remorse" and that his punishment is disparate vis-à-vis others who have committed similar crimes. They contend that the years already spent in prison have been "sufficient time from the standpoint of either punishment or deterrence." They deleted a line from the first draft of the letter that suggested that the release of Pollard would help the Middle East peace process, possibly because even they realized that no one would believe it.
Well congressmen, the truth is that both Pollard and his wife Anne have bragged about the information he provided to Israel while he has never expressed contrition about spying against his country of birth. He has persisted in the big lie that he provided the intelligence only to help Israel against its enemies instead of for money and has also incorrectly maintained that he merely stole information that would be of use in Israel’s defense. If there is any remorse being expressed by Jonathan Jay Pollard, it is over his having to spend twenty-five years in prison.
And as for the deterrence value, it is somewhat hard to imagine what that might be as people who spy for Israel continue to be let off with a slap on the wrist or even less because the Justice Department refuses to prosecute even after FBI agents labor to make a viable case. Ben Ami Kadish, who passed defense secrets to the same Mossad agent handler that worked with Pollard, was recently fined and freed without any jail time. Pollard is, in fact, the only Israeli spy to have done any hard time in a federal prison in spite of the fact that hundreds of Tel Aviv’s agents, including numerous Americans and Israeli "movers" detected red handed during 9/11, have been caught in the act. There are no other spies from "non-adversarial" nations, to use the phrase employed in the congressional letter, who have done anything at all comparable to what Pollard has done. Pollard is unique and, given the magnitude of the crime he committed and the fact that Israel is the major recipient of foreign aid from the US, he should rot in prison.
But a far better reason why Pollard should never be released is the failure of Israel to comply with the agreement it made with the United States Justice Department in the aftermath of his arrest. Israel long denied that Pollard was an Israeli spy, claiming instead that he was being run by a rogue operation without official sanction. Nevertheless, the Israeli government entered into a secret agreement with Washington because of concerns that the US might issue federal warrants for the identified Israeli case officers who had handled Pollard, some of whom were not protected by diplomatic status and might be seized by US Marshals anywhere in the world.
Key to US willingness to enter into the agreement was Israel’s agreement to return the documents stolen by Pollard so a damage assessment could be conducted. But it failed to do so. The team sent to Israel by the US Navy to investigate the crime was harassed, intimidated, and threatened with violence. Its luggage was clandestinely searched and personal possessions were stolen. It returned to Washington with a few dozen low level documents that were among the Pollard haul, meaning that the US will never know the true extent of the betrayal.
The 39 congressmen who signed the Pollard letter might well first consider the failure of Israel to live up to its agreements before demanding yet another bribe to reward its bad behavior. Rather than attempting to appease Bibi Netanyahu and the kleptocrats who surround him, they should first think of what the United States national interest might be. They should be reminded that they do not represent Israel, having been elected by American voters and supported in their posturings by the long suffering US taxpayer. They should for once not seek more concessions for Israel but should instead demand that Tel Aviv comply with what it has agreed to do. If they cannot do that, they do not deserve to sit in the Congress of the United States of America.
Read more by Philip Giraldi
- What Has Bibi Been Doing? – April 24th, 2013
- Drones and Death Lists: The New Face of Warfare – April 17th, 2013
- Just One Left Behind – April 10th, 2013
- Failed by the Fourth Estate – April 3rd, 2013
- Obama Beats Bibi on TKO – March 27th, 2013
wadosy
December 1st, 2010 at 10:55 pm
sooner or later, we're gonna have to give the israelis enough rope to hang themselves…
if we dont give it to them, they'll take it, anyways.
LOL
wadosy
December 2nd, 2010 at 12:03 am
sure, it is
wadosy
December 2nd, 2010 at 12:32 am
faith
wadosy
December 2nd, 2010 at 1:35 am
i'm gonna say, although i dont have, so far as i know, any special druid qualifications, that druids would be against chickenshit measures like staging fatal accidents in prisons.
sherban
December 2nd, 2010 at 3:22 am
Put in jail the 39 congressmen for treason.Are more than million problems that US have to solve and these stooges deal with the disgusting spy Pollard.A real honest man,Vanunu,who served 18 years in Israeli jail for denouncing the terrorist nuclear policy of Israel ,what is called by them "keeping the ambiguity" and who is now a Christian and wants to live in US but is still detained in Israel or in Israeli jail,this noble person deserving Nobel prize in the opinion of many respectable people and human rights organization didn't have the support of one of these corrupted congressmen from Israeli occupied territories.
wadosy
December 2nd, 2010 at 3:23 am
sometimes it's funny, sometimes it isnt, but after you've thought about it for a while, it mostly makes you sick to your stomach.
wadosy
December 2nd, 2010 at 3:28 am
you start thinking: "how can humanity be so stupid?"
wadosy
December 2nd, 2010 at 3:33 am
meanwhile, the druids are going, "what's new? we'll wait a few hundred years, wait for the oil to run out, wait for the jews to fuck themselves up into extinction, then we'll show people how to live like they used to live before the oil. no problem."
dumb fucking druids, who are feared by the ashkenazi supremacists.
comical
wadosy
December 2nd, 2010 at 4:55 am
i dont know what you're sposed to do, mr giraldi.
i have to assume you're doing the best you think you can, but you're not hitting the hot spots.
maybe it's a matter, to you, of techy philosphy… a matter of endless supplies of oil…. but what if oil supplies have peaked, what if 9/11 was a response to peak oil?
how is it possible that the single most important geological phenomenon
wadosy
December 2nd, 2010 at 4:56 am
un fucking believeable
wadosy
December 2nd, 2010 at 5:00 am
the basic explanation of everything, being: israel must be secured before america runs out of oil.
the failure of anybody to acknowledge that fact has got to be the biggest example of chickenshit journalism ever.
wadosy
December 2nd, 2010 at 5:05 am
it doesnt take a motherfucking druid to figure out how badly you people are failing.
wadosy
December 2nd, 2010 at 5:18 am
and you cant respond, can you?
any response, especially a response showing that oil production has peaked, would be a sign of weakness.
what right do civilians have to demand truthful information from ex-CIA agents who are posing as journalists?
it would be a serious loss of face, wouldnt it, if you responded truthfully to a demand from a civilian?
JoaoAlfaiate
December 2nd, 2010 at 5:58 am
"[Congressmen] should be reminded that they do not represent Israel, having been elected by American voters and supported in their posturings by the long suffering US taxpayer."
I strongly suggest that Congressmen from places like Brooklyn, NY's Upper Eastside, Hyde Park in Chicago, Miami and parts of LA are elected because certain American citizens do, in fact, put Israel's interests first.
tomofsnj
December 2nd, 2010 at 6:17 am
It is hard to imagine how these people can be so stupid as to push this creep. J.Pollard is a disgrace to humanity. He was a prostitute even if they try to claim he was doing it for Israel. He did it for the money. He had plans which did not work out that involved running to the chinese embassy with more classified information which he was going to use get freedom for him and his wife who was also a traitor. There never was anything but money on his mind.
The United States has George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Ben Franklin as our heros. The nation of Israel have the Ben Gurion who was a terrorist who murdered 98 british officers when he blew up the king david hotel. The nation of Israel have the disgrace of Gaza as the imagine of the humanity of Israel and now they was J. Pollard to show the value of the nation of Israel. I sure would not put J. Pollard or his wife in a class with George Washington.
wadosy
December 2nd, 2010 at 6:18 am
if i didnt love you so much, i wouldnt be so hard on you.
Bruce Richardson
December 2nd, 2010 at 6:32 am
Dr Phil, as usual, is spot-on. I wish he were running for office.
Anyway, if this be congressional representation, we (the American people) are in a pile of doo-doo. Perhaps we need to make mandatory, the collecting of Cat-Scan imagery of Barney Frank and his coutre of Israeli-Firsters to note whether or not they are equipped with a brain and or the powers of reason.
This of course begs the question…how do these wags continue to get elected and re-elected?
Terrance&Philip
December 2nd, 2010 at 7:16 am
The American government are fools to try and appease Bibi Netanyahu. Haven't we always been told that we learned the lesson not to appease bullies after The Munich Accord?
History repeats itself, first as tragedy than as farce.
Terrance&Philip
December 2nd, 2010 at 7:18 am
Tell Bibi (and his congressmen bought for him by the American taxpayer) that we won't even begin discussing the release of Jay-jay Pollard until Mordechai Vanunu is set free.
bogi666
December 2nd, 2010 at 8:05 am
Pollard being a traitor and criminal on behalf of Zionist money, funded by aid from the USG another crime against Americans, is the appropriate company for the Zionist criminal NAZI government of the Zionists in Israel.
bogi666
December 2nd, 2010 at 8:13 am
It seems that only the Zionists learned lessons from the Munich accords. Americans like to be lied to, the world knows it, American politicians, businesses and pretend christians know it, only the mindlessness American population doesn't know it. This is the message of the pretend christians, "I'm not responsible,god told me to do it, Satan made me do it but I'm not responsible" which means I'm instilled with mindlessness. The "I'm not responsible….." false doctrine[babel] of the pretend christians[Biblical harlots] is the appeal of these phony christians.
peacenik
December 2nd, 2010 at 10:26 am
Here in Wisconsin, which has no death penalty ,we disposed of 2 low life prisoners Jeffrey Dahlmer and Charles Anderson by putting them in a room with a black serving life for murder. He disposed of them and in so doing saved the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars
How about the same for Pollard..,
SammyE
December 2nd, 2010 at 11:35 am
Here's a very interesting quote from Barney Frank from the JTA article on the "letter" link:
"Frank said he tried hard to solicit Republican signatories, but was turned down even by the most sympathetic GOP lawmakers for fear of political blowback from the Republican base."
"The current nature of the Republican party is that this is not the thing to do," he said.
Duglarri
December 2nd, 2010 at 1:08 pm
A question that needs to be asked is this: why is there such concern in Israel for this man? Why would they actually care what happens to him? He's served his purpose; he's not even Israeli; why would they mind if he rots in jail?
What possible reason do they have for risking so much and expending so much political effort to free him?
Could it be that Pollard in jail is an unacceptable inconvenience to Israeli intelligence officers in their attempts to recruit Americans to commit treason?
Maybe the real point is to show that American law counts for nothing, that- as those congressmen seem to imply- spying for Israel is not a crime, and that- most important- anyone thinking about turning over US secrets to Israel has no reason to be concerned about personal risk. Israel will take care of US traitors.
It will be so much easier for Israelis to persuade Americans to betray their country when Pollard is living in luxury, sipping margeuritas, in a lavish Tel Aviv apartment.
The real point is to prepare the ground for future Pollards.
RickR30
December 2nd, 2010 at 1:09 pm
I guess there was a time when hyphenated Americans could pretend that they care a bit for America, but they've dropped the veil. Lieberman, Cantor, Rothman, Weiner etc. etc. etc. have made the decision that they are in Congress to represent the interests of israel and no one else's. The interest of israel always represent a detriment to the US. Americans really need to start looking very hard at who they keep electing into office. As it stands, these traitors are going to be continuosly elected until they die in office, which can't come soon enough.
boutet
December 2nd, 2010 at 1:26 pm
Not one dollar in aid of any kind to Israelis or Palestinians until they make peace. Peace would come within 30 days of a cut off.
Marco Ortega
December 2nd, 2010 at 1:54 pm
By July 4th 2011 there will be 50 stars of DAVID in our flag and Congress will re-name us THE UNITED STATES OF ISRAEL
Farmer Giles
December 2nd, 2010 at 2:04 pm
That's a good point. I would say it's more than that, however. The fact is they simply "take care of their own." It's analogous to the recent Hollywood uproar about the extradition of Roman Polanski. Say what you want about them, but they can't be accused of sociopathy.
Jaime
December 2nd, 2010 at 2:30 pm
As far as I know, Palestine is not subsidized to the tune of billions every year. Rather they are given the stick while Israel gets the carrot no matter what they do.
Kelley
December 2nd, 2010 at 4:05 pm
The same people calling for Pollard to be released want to see Julian Assange killed on the spot. Pathetic.
Mr. Moto
December 2nd, 2010 at 4:05 pm
This country is so far gone, nothing can bring it back. I hope someone proves me wrong.
Mr. Moto
December 2nd, 2010 at 4:06 pm
How about The United Israel States?
MoT
December 5th, 2010 at 2:21 pm
I've always wondered why they seem to "care" so much about this man. Is it that he actually knows far more than he is saying? It seems absurd somehow.
MoT
December 5th, 2010 at 2:23 pm
Of course! Dirt has to be protected while those exposing it are to be eliminated.