LONDON: A former US intelligence analyst who was jailed for spying for Israel has called for the “forcible removal” of Gazans after announcing that he will stand in October’s parliamentary election.
Jonathan Pollard, who spent 30 years in prison, told Israeli Channel 13 that he wants to see the removal of “all current residents of Gaza, and the annexation of Gaza and its repopulation by us.”
He said he decided to enter politics in the wake of the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, adding that he blamed the government for allowing it to happen.
Pollard will stand as a candidate for a new political movement started with Nissim Louk, father of Shani Louk, who was killed in the Hamas attack.
Arrested in 1985 while serving with the US Navy for selling vast amounts of military secrets to Israel in return for money and jewels, Pollard pleaded guilty in 1986 in a bid to avoid life imprisonment, but a federal judge rejected his plea deal in 1987.
Pentagon lawyer Marion Bowman told NBC News in 2014 that Pollard had been motivated by money primarily as well as loyalty to Israel, and that he had also passed classified material to other states.
Pollard’s case became a cause of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who granted him citizenship while he was incarcerated in the US.
He was released in 2015 at the age of 61, but was forced to remain on parole in the US for five years.
In 2020 he emigrated to Israel, where he was welcomed as a national hero by Netanyahu, but their relationship soured over time.
In his Channel 13 interview, Pollard called for new leadership in Israel but said if Netanyahu wins the October election, “we will have to support him.”
