Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly—Joshua 2:1
One can easily tell when Israel is unfriendly; what happens when America displays the same attitude? Aviem Sella was the Israeli handler of Jonathan Pollard, an Israeli spy within the American Naval Intelligence. Sella was a pilot that participated in the Six-Day War, the Yom Kippur War, Commanded Operation Opera (the air strike against the Iraqi Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981) and was a commanding officer in Operation Mole Cricket 19 during the 1982 Lebanon War.
While a graduate student in New York, Sella recruited Jonathan Pollard. After the affair exploded, Pollard’s Israeli handlers were granted immunity from prosecution in the United States in exchange for cooperation. Unluckily for Sella, his role was unknown to the Americans; thus he was not included in the immunity deal (even now, not all the players have been mapped by the Americans).
When he was discovered, Israel refused to extradite Sella for questioning. In March 1987, he was indicted in absentia on three counts of espionage, and in June 1990, he was declared a fugitive from justice. Israel answer was daring. Sella was promoted to brigadier general and given command of the Tel Nof Airbase, a key IDF base.
Due to the tensions caused between the governments, Sella stepped down voluntarily. Sella is in trouble with the USA, even on the most prosaic levels. His website doesn’t appear in a basic Google search.
As far as I know, it is the only Israeli site registered with an address in Hebrew characters that doesn’t have a secondary one in Roman characters. As a doubtful service to him, here is his actual picture and a link to his site. Yet, Sella’s troubles are loose change compared with Pollard’s fate.
Aviem Sella 2012
Aviem Sella Hebrew Site
Jonathan Pollard 2012
The Hunting Horse: The Truth Behind the Jonathan Pollard Spy Case
Pollard in Jail
In 1985, Pollard’s actions were discovered by the U.S. government. Israel instructed him to seek refuge in the Israeli embassy in Washington. He was received and then summarily thrown out into the waiting arms of the FBI. Pollard accepted a plea agreement, which spared both governments an embarrassing trial.
He received a life sentence with a recommendation to be never paroled, apparently in violation of the agreement he had reached with the American government. In November 1995, Israel granted Jonathan Pollard Israeli citizenship, and on May 11, 1998, Israel acknowledged that Jonathan Pollard had been a bona fide Israeli agent. Pollard has renounced to his American citizenship.
It is difficult to assess the volume of information passed by Pollard. It has been seriously claimed that the US Government used an odd formula to exaggerate the volume of information passed: if only one page or a single sentence of a document was passed to the Israelis, it was counted as if the whole document had been transmitted.
As often happens in such cases, finding the truth is impossible since the sides attempt to hide their dysfunctional organizations and their operational techniques. Yet, the information included reconnaissance satellite photography of the Palestine Liberation Organization Tunisian Headquarters; it was used for the bombing of the site by Israel on October 1, 1985. In moral terms, Pollard has blood on his hands.
Free Pollard Banner – President Obama
Obama in Jerusalem with a Lame Spy
President Obama is scheduled to land in Israel on Wednesday, March 20; Israeli media claims that the code name of the event is “Unbreakable Alliance.” He will be welcomed by a state reception, during which he will be tortured with speeches by President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; in exchange for the doubtful joy, he will deliver an answer speech.
On the same day, he will visit the President’s residence, the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum and Mount Herzl, laying wreaths at Herzl’s tomb and Yitzhak Rabin’s tomb. Following these formalities, he will discuss business with Netanyahu. The topics to be negotiated include Iran, Syria, the peace process and Jonathan Pollard; afterwards, they will offer a joint press conference.
On Thursday, President Obama will meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, visit the Israel Museum and a model of the Second Temple, and see the Dead Sea Scrolls with Netanyahu. At a still secret moment, Obama will spontaneously speech to Israelis.
The Americans have requested at least 1,000 Israelis to be in attendance; the Israeli Shin Beth, the secret police, has promised to supply at least 1,001. They know places offering “2×1” deals. Friday will be the last day of the visit. It will include breakfast with Prime Minister Netanyahu in his home or at the King David Hotel. President Obama will then visit an Iron Dome battery with Netanyahu and shortly after noon will depart to Jordan.
Jonathan Pollard should not be hopeful. Netanyahu and Obama don’t speak the same language; the Israeli Prime Minister has been quoted repeatedly by local media saying “I don’t speak Democrat.” In the recent American elections, Netanyahu openly supported his friend Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate and was shocked by Obama’s victory.
Moreover, five Prime Ministers and three Presidents have requested Jonathan Pollard’s release from the United States, and have obtained nothing except one embarrassing fiasco at the Wye Plantation Summit in 1998. The main points are that the American governments have never treated in such a way an American citizen passing information to an ally and that the case is plagued with irregularities.
Two websites follow the Pollard case. Free Pollard does that in Hebrew; the banners shown here were taken from there. The second one is in English; oddly Justice for Jonathan Pollard doesn’t show the same content, despite both sites being linked.
On February 22, the Hebrew was heavily involved with a petition to free Pollard, scheduled to be delivered to President Obama before his visit to Israel. The English website reported the initiative, claiming on one of its columns, “50,000 Tell Obama: Bring Pollard With You.” Do Israelis expect the American President to travel with a convicted spy on the same plane? Maybe he would exchange him for Aviem Sella.
 Free Pollard Petition Banner
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Mr. Tov Roy is one of the frequent contributors for The 4th Media News.