Jonathan Pollard responds to the Washington Post article: "Defense Memo Warned of Israeli Spying" (Pg. 1, 1/30/96)
(Ethnic Ties Draws A.D.L Rebuke)
February 1, 1996
Jonathan:
1. This was "Round Two" of an offensive against Israel which started last week. Many people don't understand this. An article by Joseph Polakoff, syndicated columnist, entitled "Israel and China deny Tech Transfer", which appeared in the January 19, 1996 edition of Heritage S.W. Jewish Press, was the first shot which a lot of people didn't pick up on.
Text of article follows:
Israel and China both have denied they were involved in a transaction that purportedly had Israel transferring American technology to China, to build a new generation fighter bomber. Their denials quickly followed a statement by State Department Nicholas Burns, that the U.S. Government is "taking seriously" the report that Israel has provided China with plans for the Lavi jet fighter and possibly a prototype of it. The report also said Israel has transferred Israeli-designed Kfir aircraft to Ecuador.In Jerusalem, [the] Israel Defence Ministry said "Israel obeys and will continue to obey the laws and requirements...which stipulate U.S. authorization for export involving American technology or parts."
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Chen Jian told reporters "a media report that China and Israel have a military deal does not conform to reality...China and Israel have normal cultural, economic and technological co-operation", he said.
A report in the monthly Washington Report on Middle East Affairs said the CIA has photographs, showing a Lavi plane on a Chinese landing strip. The publications said the plane was developed by Israel, with about one-and-a-half billion in U.S. funds. The U.S. was said to have abandoned the project since it was a variation of the U.S. F16, a plane supplied to Israel. Israel then ended the program, but it would still require an export license before U.S. technology that went into the Lavi could be transferred to a third country which has not been granted.
Jonathan:
That alleged information was leaked by elements within the CIA - and they do this periodically - to discredit Israel as a reliable ally and as an appropriate recipient of American technological and intelligence secrets. They do this repeatedly. Sometimes it just pops up before the appropriations hearings, or big weapons sales that the Arabs don't like. Or as a means of pressuring the Israelis into political concessions. This time I strongly believe it was linked to the publication, today, of this piece which was intended, first and foremost, to follow up on the damage done to Israel last week by attacking the
reliability
of the American Jewish community. This first piece that Polakoff reported on the Lavi, was intended squarely as a dagger aimed at the heart of the U.S.-Israel "special relationship". And it is done repeatedly. This time, they overplayed their hand by following that up with an attack on the reliability of the American Jewish community, essentially Israel's main source of support in this country.This situation should, I think, serve as a wake-up call both for Israel and the American Jewish community. This was not an accidental leak of documents either by the CIA or this low-level Defence Department bureaucrat. They were both part of an ongoing effort to undermine the U.S.-Israel strategic alliance and call into question both the reliability of Israel as an ally and the loyalty of the American Jewish community.
2. As far as the Defence Department is concerned, it essentially calls for a sentence of "collective guilt" to be imposed on the American Jewish community for my crime. And this runs counter to our strongly-held belief in individual accountability. Repressive regimes down the ages have used collective punishment, particularly against Jews. We are well aware of its consequences; it usually hasn't ended well for us. We have always thought that such would not be the case here; I guess we were wrong.
3. This document absolutely confirms everything I've said about the existence of lists of Jews which were compiled long before my arrest and shown to me, for me to identify my alleged conspirator/co-conspirator/co-conspirators - the Mr. "X' or Messrs. "X" who were involved. No-one believed me then. Well, Loftus and Aarons wrote about it, and here we have, again, proof positive.
From what I understand, the Washington Post article said that there is a document that has concluded that the American Jewish community is unreliable because of Israel's ongoing intelligence efforts in this country, both for political information and for strategic intelligence and industrial technology, the American Jewish community is basically doing Israel's dirty work; because of the religious commitment, Israel has an advantage in that it can tap into this very strong affinity that Jews have for Israel. And because of that, American Jews are suspect.
Questions can be raised. What about Greek Americans, like Stephen Lallos, who spied for the Greeks? Are there lists of Greeks that have been compiled? And what about Arab Americans or Moslem Americans? We have spying incidents involving the Saudis, Egyptians, Jordanians and Iraqis. Are all of them to be held suspect as well? And what about the Chinese? We had instances where Chinese Americans have been found to be spying for China. Are Chinese Americans to be singled out? No. This is clearly
selective prosecution
, as they say.I think, in conclusion, that all of this reinforces the fact that I will continue to be used as a weapon by those whom Abe Foxman has classified as anti-semitic. Abe Foxman, of the Anti-Defamation League, said that clearly this document and those who wrote it, were anti-semitic.
The connection with me is that the same people, the same elements that produced this report against both Israel and the American Jewish community are the same ones who have been responsible for my ongoing persecution, since eleven years ago and up to the present day! Abe Foxman called them anti-semitic and he is right. One hundred percent right. Basically, as long as they continue to hold me, I will be used as a weapon both against Israel and its perception as a reliable ally, and against the Jewish community and their perception as patriotic Americans. My incarceration will essentially be used as a Sword of Damocles over both, to call into question the reliability of Israel as an ally and to call into question the patriotism of the American Jewish community.
This is why the case has to end now, in order to remove this two-edged Sword of Damocles from over our collective heads.
As relayed in conversations with his wife, Esther Pollard.