Spy’s Wife Disputes Value, Meaning of Gift : Lawyer Denies Greed Motivated Pollards

The wife of Israeli spy Jonathan Jay Pollard, challenging the U.S. government’s contention that she accepted a $7,000 ring from Israel as part of a newly acquired addiction to the “high life,” said Thursday that the jewelry was meant only to encourage the couple to get married.

In a rare interview, Anne Henderson-Pollard told The Times: “In espionage, they like individuals to be married--for stability.” Besides, Henderson-Pollard added, she had the diamond-and-sapphire ring appraised before turning it over to the government, and it was worth only $1,500.

The conflicting versions emerged as the Pollards’ newly appointed lawyer, Leon Charney, sharply disputed the government’s contention that greed was the primary motivation for Pollard to spy and his wife to conspire to receive embezzled government property.

“If they did this for money, I would not have taken the case,” said Charney, who was retained for his experience in highly political cases. “Their sole motivation was ideological feelings for Israel.”

Proposes Sentences

Charney, who said he has represented such notable Israeli figures as Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin, acknowledged that the Pollards, who both pleaded guilty, have to be punished. “It’s a question of degree,” he said, proposing that they be stripped of their citizenship and deported to Israel, instead of imprisoned in the United States.

However, there appeared to be some disagreement among the defense team. Richard F. Hibey, Jonathan Pollard’s original attorney, immediately dissociated himself from Charney’s deportation proposal, saying that he would not take this position in court. And James Hibey, Henderson-Pollard’s original attorney, declined comment.

The government presented its statements about the Pollards this week in memoranda to Chief U.S. District Judge Aubrey Robinson, urging that Pollard and his wife be sent to prison, he for a “substantial” term and she for “a period of years.”

Charney said he was speaking out now, before submitting his own sentencing memoranda to Robinson, because “the press hit us so hard we have to give out our story quickly.”

“What you’re seeing is the picture of two kids who got together to make a bundle of money and sell out their country, and that’s not true. The truth is that Jay has been inculcated with Zionism since he was 13.”

In denouncing the picture of greed that Charney said the government has painted of the Pollards, the defense attorney said his arguments addressed more than just their sentencing. “After sentencing, you have the possibility of parole, presidential pardons and political deals,” he said.

Free to Leave

A Justice Department official, declining to be identified, said that the Pollards will be free to go to Israel, but only after they complete serving any prison sentences they receive.

Charney denied a government statement that Pollard expected to receive $540,000 more if he continued to obtain top-secret and other classified material for the Israelis while serving as a civilian intelligence analyst for the Navy. “It’s absolutely untrue,” the attorney said.

“The facts are that his (Israeli) handlers made him (such) an offer, but he never accepted it,” he said. “You need an offer and an acceptance to make it a contract.”

Charney, interrupting a telephone interview frequently to check answers with Henderson-Pollard, who was willing to talk only on the question of the ring, acknowledged that the Pollards traveled in a private $700-a-night compartment aboard the Orient Express while on an Israel-financed trip to Europe.

Credit Card Debts

“It was one night, it was their honeymoon, they put it on a charge card, and they still owe part of it,” Charney contended, adding that Henderson-Pollard’s credit card debts total about $5,000.

The Pollards’ new lawyer said that any lavish accommodations were “preset” by the Israelis as a means of making the couple “feel important.” He contended that much of the activity described in the government memoranda was simply Pollard following the instructions of his Israeli spymasters.

“In espionage, the handlers try to give you a feeling of importance,” Charney said.

Pollard faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and a $250,000 fine, while Henderson-Pollard could be sentenced to as much as 10 years in prison and fined $500,000.