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Three decades ago, Abraham Sofaer worked hard to put Jonathan Pollard behind bars. Now, with Pollard being set free after 30 years in prison, Sofaer is glad the affair is finally coming to an end.
“For many years I’ve been saying he’s served enough time,” said Sofaer, a former federal judge and currently a senior fellow with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. “It’s time for a compassionate release.”
A legal adviser to the State Department from 1985 to 1990, Sofaer was part of a team that conferred with Israeli officials after Pollard’s 1985 arrest for selling classified information to Israel. Their mission was to collect evidence to help convict Pollard on charges of espionage.
Despite his satisfaction over Pollard’s parole, Sofaer never became an apologist for Pollard, who over time gained a base of supporters who considered him a hero rather than a traitor and a spy. Sofaer considers the formal civilian naval analyst a “shmuck” and “an egotistical person who is insecure emotionally.”
“The worst thing that happened to Pollard was all these people who jumped on his cause and convinced him to do and say all the wrong things, and subject himself to many years in prison,” said Sofaer, a U.S. District Court judge in New York from 1979 to 1985. “With all this stuff about what a great Zionist he was, he was taking money [from Israel]. He was trying to make himself important, but it was disgusting what he did, as a Jew and American.”
In 1986 Pollard pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to deliver defense secrets to a foreign government. True, that government was a close ally of the United States, but according to Sofaer, Pollard became his own worst enemy after his arrest.
“I thought the [life] sentence was just because he had so blatantly violated his own word to the court,” Sofaer said. “He infuriated the judge, who told him not to speak to the press. Pollard went into this fantasy world of how everything he did was justified because Israel is a friend of the United States. I knew the judge [the late Aubrey E. Robinson Jr.] who presided. He was a wonderful man. All these crazy pro-Pollard people started spreading rumors that [Robinson] was anti-Semitic. These people were willing to say and do anything, and it harmed [Pollard] immensely.”
As for Sofaer’s role, he and his delegation met with Shin Bet director Avraham Shalom and others, making it clear that the United States demanded a full apology, the return of all stolen documents and a promise that Israel never undertake espionage against the United States again. They got what they asked for.
A plea deal that would have led to a lighter sentence fell through after Pollard violated some of the terms. His attempt to change his plea from guilty to not guilty was rebuffed.
“The judge said, ‘You spoke to the press when I told you not to,’ ” Sofaer recalled. “[Pollard] said he’d done nothing wrong. Then [Defense Secretary] Caspar Weinberger writes a nasty letter that talks about how much damage Pollard did in terms of forcing [America] to redo all its codes. I was not surprised he got the most severe sentence possible.”
But Sofaer reaffirmed his belief that Pollard should not have stayed in prison as long as he did, saying “When the Israeli government finally came to its senses and took responsibility, that’s when we should have reappraised Pollard’s role.”
Though Pollard is now free, he is not free to relocate to Israel, as the terms of his parole stipulate that he remain in the United States for at least five years.
Sofaer, who played a role in Pollard’s incarceration, feels the 61-year-old should be able to live anywhere he wants.
“I think it would be very unfortunate to prevent him from gong to Israel,” Sofaer said. “He’s paid his price and Israel has paid its price. It’s over. We should walk away.”