Joe Catron: Pollard release shows Tel Aviv’s impunity in US
Press TV has interviewed Joe Catron, an activist and journalist from New York, on the release of Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard from a US prison.
Following is a rough transcription of the interview.
Press TV: What does the Pollard spying case say about Israeli-US relations? Washington concedes to and provides Israel with just about everything that Israel asks for. So why does Israel need to spy on the US, its number one ally?
Catron: I think this case shows a number of interesting things about how Israel seeks to maximize its benefits from the relationship with the United States, while, of course, facing few consequences for these actions.
In the case of Pollard, for example, it is hardly a secret that Israel traded much of intelligence he stole from the United States to third parties like China in exchange for further benefits that were not available directly from the United States.
So Israel not only seeks as much direct support from the United States as it can be possibly gain, but also hopes to leverage the advantages of this relationship in ways that worked directly against those of its patrons in Washington D.C.
Press TV: There are numerous active and retired US officials, they say the damage Pollard caused to US security was far greater than that was reported and the man deserves no clemency. Yet almost all Israeli prime ministers call him a hero and have lobbied for his release. Now how brazen is this of Tel Aviv to take such a stand behind such a move?
Catron: I think it is clearly brazen and it is also very predictable. Tel Aviv faces very few consequences for any of its aggressive intelligence gathering operations in the United States, which in many cases they hardly bothered to keep a secret.
Pollard’s theft of military intelligence is one of the things when it comes, for example, to efforts by local Israeli consulates to monitor Palestine supporters domestically.
They simply make this public effectively. They do not bother to cover it up.
This is the degree of impunity the Tel Aviv regime enjoys within the United States and why they are unlikely to face any consequences for their open demand for Pollard’s release.
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