Espionage, Betrayal, and Secrets Between Allies

Saagar Enjeti: I mean, take the case of Jonathan Pollard, who is one of the biggest traitors in the history of the United States for passing classified information to the Israeli government. Prime Minister Netanyahu used to visit our country and actively campaign, urging U.S. presidents to pardon Jonathan Pollard for betraying our country in favor of his own.

Tucker Carlson: Do you have any idea what they did with the classified information, with those secrets? Well, I really have no idea. We gave them to the Soviet Union. Oh, that’s right. That’s right.

And this was in the 1980s — in 1985. I remember it well. I was living in Washington. The entire focus of the U.S. government was on opposing the Soviets. And the Israelis handed over a lot of that classified U.S. Navy information to the Soviet government in exchange for allowing refuseniks — Jewish Soviet citizens — to emigrate to Israel, which I totally support. I’m glad they were able to get out of the Soviet Union and make it to Israel. I think that’s great.

But they took our secrets and gave them to our main enemy — really, our only global enemy. What?

Jonathan Pollard was a civilian intelligence analyst for the United States Navy who, between 1984 and 1985, handed over thousands of classified documents to the Israeli government. He was arrested in 1985 and sentenced to life in prison for espionage, becoming one of the most notorious cases of treason in U.S. history. His case sparked diplomatic tensions between Washington and Tel Aviv for decades.

Although Pollard is considered a traitor by U.S. authorities, Israel treated him as a national hero. Several Israeli leaders, including then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, openly pressured U.S. administrations to secure his release, which caused unease in Congress and within the U.S. intelligence community.

One of the most controversial aspects of the case is that part of the information Pollard handed over to Israel ended up in the hands of the Soviet Union, apparently as part of an exchange between Israeli and Soviet intelligence services. In return, Moscow allowed Soviet Jews—known as “refuseniks”—to emigrate to Israel, after years of repression and restrictions under the communist regime. While that release was welcomed by many, Israel is believed to have seriously compromised U.S. national security in the process.

The documents leaked by Pollard included details about U.S. defense capabilities, reconnaissance satellites, nuclear strategies, and electronic warfare systems—many of which were not relevant to Israel’s security. This raised suspicions that Israel may have shared the information with other countries, such as China or South Africa.

Pollard was eventually released in 2015 after serving 30 years in prison, though under strict parole conditions. In 2020, those restrictions were lifted and he moved to Israel, where he was welcomed as a patriotic figure. His case remains a symbol of the complex balance between U.S.-Israel strategic relations, American national security, and the moral dilemmas of espionage between allies.