Pollard Was Reluctant to Take Money for Spying on U.S., Israeli Newspaper Reports

Jonathan Jay Pollard, the former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst convicted last June of spying for Israel, was pressured by his Israeli controller to take money for his efforts and refused to provide information he felt would be harmful to the United States, the Jerusalem Post reported Friday.

The report was seen as signaling a possible change in the official Israeli attitude toward Pollard a year after he was arrested trying to seek asylum at the Israeli Embassy in Washington.

The Israeli government, contending that Pollard was part of an unauthorized espionage operation, not only gave him no support but provided Washington with incriminating evidence against him.

Influential Supporters

But now, some influential Israelis, including government officials, are reportedly arguing that Pollard and his wife, who pleaded guilty to a charge of possessing classified documents, deserve more from the country they served.

“It’s time for Israel to do something to help the Pollards,” Wolf Blitzer, the Jerusalem Post Washington correspondent, said in a commentary published Friday along with his front-page article reporting that Pollard did not want money from Israel.

“A good start would involve the payment of their legal fees,” Blitzer suggested. “Later, after their formal sentencing (expected in January), Israel should consider using its political clout with Washington to free Pollard and to help him fulfill an earlier dream of moving to Israel--assuming he still wants to do so.”

Interviewed Friday by telephone, Blitzer said: “There are other Israeli officials who, I think, feel guilty about their behavior toward Pollard. It’s not just my idea.”

Staggering Legal Fees

He refused to disclose his sources, but said he had been “made aware of the personal suffering the families are going through” because of high legal defense costs. According to Blitzer, Pollard’s family and his wife’s family are staggering under legal fees estimated at $200,000.

Blitzer said in his commentary that the former No. 2 man in the Israeli Embassy in Washington, Elyakim Rubinstein, had met recently with Pollard’s father-in-law, Bernard Henderson, “and heard his very sad story.”

“There is reason to believe,” he went on, “that Rubinstein was touched by the personal tragedy that befell the Henderson and Pollard families, but no promises were made.”

Rubinstein has returned to Israel and is now secretary in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir. Contacted by The Times on Friday, Rubinstein refused to comment on the Pollard case.

Spokesmen at the Israeli Foreign Ministry and in Shamir’s office also declined comment.

Spy Unit Disbanded

Pollard’s arrest, on Nov. 21, 1985, triggered a crisis in Israeli-American relations that lingered through much of last winter. Israel finally apologized and said it had disbanded the previously secret intelligence unit, known as Lekem, through which Pollard reported.

Blitzer, citing “information from sources close to Pollard and subsequently confirmed by authoritative U.S. and Israeli officials involved in the case,” wrote that Pollard volunteered to provide Israel with limited information he considered vital to its national security. He described Pollard as an “ardent Zionist” who often thought about emigrating to Israel. Blitzer said Pollard’s motives were “ideological, not financial.”

However, according to Blitzer’s account, Rafael Eitan, chief of the Lekem unit that Pollard worked with, insisted that Pollard be paid for his services as a guarantee of the former Navy man’s continued cooperation.

By the time of his arrest, Blitzer wrote, Pollard had collected $45,000 in cash and $30,000 in a numbered foreign bank account. He said Pollard had also been given two $10,000 overseas trips and an expensive diamond-and-sapphire ring for his wife.

Withheld Information

The Post correspondent quoted his sources as saying that Pollard went along reluctantly with the payments, and that at one point he “deeply angered Eitan” by refusing to provide information he felt could hurt the United States. Eitan, according to Blitzer’s sources, was the real villain. One source was quoted as saying that “Eitan really took advantage” of Pollard.

Eitan, who was forced out of his intelligence post after Pollard’s arrest, is now head of Israel Chemicals, the largest government-owned firm in Israel. Yosef Yagur, former science attache in Israel’s Washington embassy and chief Lekem representative in the United States, also works at Israel Chemicals.

Blitzer said in his commentary that Pollard “obviously blundered very badly when he agreed to spy for Israel and stole classified U.S. documents.” But his error, the correspondent argued, “stemmed from his background as a Jew and Zionist.”

Pollard “certainly deserves better treatment from Israel, the country he served,” Blitzer said, adding that “this has not been Israel’s greatest hour.”