WND: Jonathan Pollard: Peres lied to U.S.

Israeli agent says veteran politician denied involvement in affair to save career

Aaron Klein - WorldNetDaily.com - June 4, 2007

JERUSALEM - Israeli presidential hopeful Shimon Peres lied to the U.S. about his involvement in the Jonathan Pollard spy operation, turned over all the evidence to prosecute Pollard in order to save his own career; and may have testified falsely under oath regarding the affair, Pollard charged in an exclusive communication relayed to WND yesterday.

"Twenty-two years ago, Peres chose self-interest and personal power over his legal and moral obligation to rescue an Israel agent in peril. He deliberately, knowingly sold out an Israeli agent who had faithfully served the security needs of the state. That agent was me," said Pollard from his prison cell in Butner, N.C.

Peres was prime minister when Pollard, an Israeli agent who worked as a civilian intelligence analyst for the U.S. Navy, was arrested in 1985 on suspicion of passing classified information to an ally, Israel.

Pollard says on the night of his arrest, Peres denied any knowledge of the Israeli spy operation in a phone call to then-U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz, claiming to Shultz that Pollard was a "freelancer."

Peres then proceeded to hand over hordes of incriminating documents Pollard had secured at the direction of top Israeli government officials - including Peres himself, Pollard said. The documents reportedly formed the basis of the U.S. case against Pollard. The Eban Commission, a committee appointed in 1987 by the Knesset to investigate the Pollard affair, slammed Peres for handing to the U.S. documents it said "constituted the basis for the conviction and life sentence Pollard received."

Assistant U.S. Attorney John R. Fisher wrote in court filings it was "only after government attorneys and investigators returned from Israel with additional evidence of [Pollard's] guilt" that Pollard began to cooperate with the prosecution and opted to enter into a plea agreement.

Pollard was then indicted of one count of passing classified information to an ally and sentenced to life imprisonment in spite of the plea agreement, in which Pollard agreed to the charge to spare himself a life term.

It wasn't until 1998 the Israeli government finally announced it had run Pollard as its agent. Israeli government rules require the government to aid agents in peril.

Pollard blasted Peres for "lying" when the Israeli politician told the U.S. upon Jonathan's arrest that Pollard wasn't acting on behalf of the Israeli government.

"Documents submitted to the Israeli Supreme Court as part of my recent filings show beyond a doubt that all of Israel's top officials including Peres, were fully aware of and directly involved in my operation," said Pollard.

Peres lied to state commission?

Testifying before the Eban Commission, Peres claimed he supplied to the U.S. the incriminating documents only after securing a commitment from the U.S. not to use those documents to prosecute Pollard.

"As soon as the documents were returned to America, the U.S. immediately used them against me, and there was no protest from Peres or from Israel," said Pollard.

"If such a commitment not to prosecute with the documents did exist, why is it that Peres did not inform me at the time so that I could protect myself legally? I did not learn of this supposed commitment until the year 2000 when I finally obtained a copy of the Eban Report," Pollard said.

Pollard said he and his representatives repeatedly made discreet requests for the Israeli government to act upon their obligations to help him, but he says those appeals "fell on deaf ears."

In 2005, Pollard filed a petition with the Israeli Supreme Court to compel the Jewish state's government to press for his release on the basis of the commitment which Peres claimed he received that America would not use the incriminating documents. But the Israeli government replied to the court there was no evidence of any such agreement with the U.S.

"In other words, the state of Israel had no shame in telling the court Peres had lied under oath in order to justify his having returned the documents to the U.S. without first negotiating the safe return of Israel's agent. This is criminal negligence for which Peres has yet to answer," charged Pollard.

"In the years since my arrest, Peres has had no pangs of conscience for callously incriminating me and then abandoning me. His sole motive for selling me out was to protect his own personal reputation and his career," Pollard charged.

Pollard said Peres "deliberately transferred all of the blame [for my operation which was run by Peres' government] to me by returning the documents and having the Israeli team submit false affidavits against me .... These were nothing but frantic efforts by Peres to distance himself from the operation so that his career ambitions and personal fund-raising abilities in the U.S. would be protected.

Pollard told WND the information he passed to Israel forewarned the Jewish state about enemy movements and the build-up of unconventional weapons of war in neighboring Arab countries, including by Saddam Hussein for use against Israel.

"When Peres authorized the Israeli Air Force to bomb PLO headquarters in Tunis in 1985, the government was able to risk the pilots' lives because it knew information about the location and layout of the terrorist headquarters was reliable because I had provided it."

Pollard: Peres unfit for command

Last week, Peres, a former prime minister and a key architect of the 1993 Oslo Accords, formally announced his decision to run for president of Israel.

Peres is Israel's longest serving Knesset member. He was appointed deputy prime minister and minister for the development of the Israeli Negev desert for the current government. He has held a number of top positions, including foreign minister and minister of communications and defense. Although never elected to Israel's highest office, Peres served twice as prime minister, once following the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and another time in an unusual deal that saw a rotating unity government for which he served for two years.

Pollard says Peres' actions during and since the Israeli spies' capture demonstrate Peres is "unfit for command, devoid of honor and is a clear and present danger to the Jewish state."

Pollard said many Israeli officials who visited him in jail reported of Peres' continued refusal to help.

"These officials, one by one, reported back to me that Peres' response is consistent: 'It's him or me. Forget Pollard. He is a lost cause. You have more important things to do, and I can help you.'"

Continued Pollard: "Peres' ability to act so ruthlessly, to destroy the life of one who has faithfully served the state and sabotage rescue efforts; and his capacity for maintaining this immoral stance without remorse for more than two decades, is terrifying in its implications if this man should become president."

Aaron Klein, WorldNetDaily's Jerusalem bureau chief, is known for his regular interviews with Mideast terror leaders and his popular segments on America's top radio programs.