Convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard has leveled an explosive allegation against Israel’s own government, claiming that an individual “sent by the Israeli government” once urged him to commit suicide in order to permanently bury the diplomatic crisis his case caused between Jerusalem and Washington.

In a recorded interview aired Monday on Israel Army Radio, Pollard said the encounter took place sometime after his release from a U.S. prison in 2015 and before he was permitted to immigrate to Israel in 2020.

“He said, ‘You are a patriot, right? You love your country?’” Pollard recalled. The man then allegedly continued: “Why don’t you just do the right thing and we’ll bring you home, give you a nice burial on Mount Herzl, so we can close the door on this case.”

Pollard said he was initially confused by the remark and only later grasped its implication.

Pollard, a former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst, was arrested in 1985 after passing thousands of classified American documents to Israel. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison, triggering one of the most severe intelligence scandals in U.S.-Israel relations and a rupture that lingered for decades.

After serving 30 years behind bars, Pollard was released in 2015 but remained trapped in the United States under strict parole conditions. Those restrictions were lifted in 2020, allowing him to move to Israel, which had quietly granted him citizenship back in 1995. Upon his arrival, Pollard was embraced by Prime Minister Netanyahu as a national hero and became a vocal supporter of the premier, though he has since publicly criticized Netanyahu in recent years.

The Army Radio interview also revealed Pollard’s hardline views on Israel’s current security posture. He said he categorically opposes any foreign military presence on Israeli soil, singling out the Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC) in Kiryat Gat as a direct threat to Israeli sovereignty.

“I don’t want to see any of them, for whatever reason,” Pollard said, referring to foreign troops stationed there.

The CMCC, established under U.S. leadership, coordinates humanitarian, logistical, and security assistance related to Gaza and the postwar stabilization effort. It hosts personnel from a wide array of countries, including the United States, Jordan, the United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, Canada, Australia, France, Spain, and the United Arab Emirates.

Pollard has reemerged as a controversial figure on the international stage in recent months. Last month, The New York Times reported that he held a secret meeting earlier this year inside the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, a revelation that reportedly unsettled figures within the American intelligence community, given Pollard’s history.

He also ignited outrage last month by comparing his treatment by U.S. interrogators to that of Hamas hostages held in Gaza.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)