US: No Comment on Eitan’s Election
Main Points;
1/ Rafi Eitan, leader of the Gil Pensioners’ Party, to the Knesset; “… considered an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the Jonathan Pollard spy case and might be taken in for questioning if he enters the US.”
2/ He was “former senior Mossad official, was head of the branch dealing with technology and science … recruited Pollard, … and served as his operator, receiving top secret information from him.”
3/ Was one of two Israelis, with “Eitan and Aviem Sela of the IAF, who were part of the spy operation but were not indicted.”
4/ “In the Yediot interview, Eitan took full responsibility for recruiting Pollard: ‘It was my decision and mine only. I took complete, absolute responsibility. I decided to take the risk, which was clear to me, although I didn’t predict the affair would develop to such an extent. There’s risk when using any agent.'”
“He also disputed the claim that Pollard’s information led to revealing the identity of American spies operating in the Soviet Union.”
But the Pollards consider Eitan as having exploiting Joonathan Pollard’s name in order to get elected. Esther Pollard: “Eitan remains committed to keeping my husband in prison.”
Pollard OpEd: Rafi Eitan, Go Home!
Excerpts;
… Now that he is in Knesset he will do everything he can to make sure that Jonathan Pollard never gets out of prison. Tomorrow, said Abramovitch, Eitan will go and celebrate, while Pollard will go back to his jail cell.
It is not for nothing that Rafi Eitan’s colleagues in the Intelligence Community nicknamed him “HaMasreeach” (The Foul Odor). The man has no morals, no integrity, no conscience. I will never forget a meeting I had with Eitan years ago, which was also attended by Jonathan’s attorney, Larry Dub, and prisoner activist, Herut Lapid.
As we began the meeting, Eitan told us the only thing he regrets about the Pollard affair is that he did not ‘finish the job’ before leaving the States. We asked him what he meant by this. Eitan replied, “If I had been at the embassy when Pollard came to seek asylum, I would have put a bullet through his head. There would have been no Pollard affair.”