Dishonor Thy Father & Thy Mother

By Andrew I. Killgore

The Jonathan Jay Pollard case is bad. A Jewish-American stealing U.S. secrets for Israel. A passionate "Israel Firster." Absolutely and egregiously bad. Worse than all the others. Worse because Israel's dependence on America is now virtually total. Worse than the Lavon Affair, Israel tried to burn American libraries in Egypt then and pin it on President Nasser. But that was way back in the 1950s when Israel wasn't as dependent as now. The Holocaust was still recent. Israel's guilt only gradually emerged so the shock of getting blind-sided by a supposed friend was softened. Somewhat.

Worse than Israel's attack on the USS Liberty in 1967? Killing 34 Americans and wounding 171? In a way, yes; Israel was at war then. She claimed the attack was a tragic accident and apologized. Israel had wanted to keep secret its planned attack on Syria so it could be presented to the world as a defensive move. Liberty's electronic ears would have learned the truth. Both the U.S. and Israel covered up, and still do. Years passed before Israel's premeditated brutality became crystal clear. Again the impact was eased. The Liberty attack can never be forgiven. But a kind of rationalization is possible.

Four hundred and fifty pounds of enriched American uranium missing from Zalmon Shapiro's Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation in Apollo, Pennsylvania in the 1960s? Enough to make 20 to 25 atomic bombs for Israel. Well, the circumstances remain murky. Maybe all of the stuff didn't get to Israel. Perhaps Mr. Shapiro's contention that a quarter ton of uranium stuck to pipes should not be totally dismissed. Israel may not actually have The Bomb, despite universal conviction to the contrary. Its refusal to permit international inspection may not be designed to conceal that fact. Maybe.

The Krytron caper last year? Okay, they went to Israel, but the devices can be used for lots of other purposes than triggering nuclear weapons. Besides, Israel has promised to return the unused ones, someday. And who can prove that the Mr. Smyth who arranged the deal was actually working for Israel? Especially since he's disappeared and can't be questioned.

Maybe it was gauche of the U.S. Customs Service to invite NBC cameras to film raids on firms shipping a bunch of high-tech gun barrels to Israel. If the Pentagon hadn't said okay, or the U.S. companies handling the matter for Israel had failed to get State and Commerce Department export permits, was it fair to blame Israel? Anyway, the timing of the raids looked suspicious. Maybe former Israeli Ambassador to Washington Dinitz was right when he implied it was just pro-Arab Americans trying to stir up trouble and that as long as investigations were going on, this ought to be investigated, too.

Everything's bad about the Pollard case, however. No mitigating circumstances. No single redeeming feature. One perversity added to another until the whole weight is crushing. Caught red-handed. And caught trying to escape into the Israeli Embassy with wife and passports, even with the cat. Charged with supplying American secrets to Israel, for love of Zion. And Israel charged with paying him handsomely for his trouble.

But why all the uproar now? What's new? Was it not widely assumed at the Defense and State Departments 25 years ago that whatever secrets the Israeli Embassy decided it wanted, it got the next day? Stolen free of charge by zealous partisans of Israel? In those days, it didn't seem so bad. And it certainly didn't seem to hurt a career. That was the assumption. True then and true today. But no open talk about it. Convention said keep silent. Avoid psychological Green Lines. Casting suspicion on other Americans was worse than the crime they were suspected of committing.

Even in retrospect, however, giving U.S. secrets to a foreign country was reprehensible. Even 25 years ago. But some rationalization was possible then. The Holocaust was only 15 years earlier, and Israel was still regarded as the underdog struggling for security. The aggressive seizure of the West Bank and Gaza Strip had not yet occurred. The cruel oppression of Palestinians in the occupied territories was still to come. The terrible slaughter of Lebanese and Palestinians in Israel's aggressive 1982 Lebanon war still lay far in the future.

But this is 1985. Everything has changed, "changed utterly." Israel's face has become ugly despite all the sophistry about a "valuable strategic ally." President Reagan's peace proposals of September 1982? Rejected immediately by Israel. Israeli settlements contrary to international law and in the face of U.S. objections? Yes. Even speeded up in open defiance of U.S. doubts. U.S. gifts to Israel? Approaching five billion dollars yearly. Internal divisions inside Israel between ethnic and religious groups? Apparently growing worse. Israel's Economy? Only staggering along with giant subventions from the American taxpayer.

Violating A Sacred Trust

In these circumstances Pollard has helped Israel to violate the Biblical injunction to honor one's father and mother. In truth a physically grown-up but morally deficient Israel has become totally dependent for its very life on the United States. A father and mother are we to our corrupted child. And by stealing our substance out of some twisted ideological pathology, Pollard, along with Israel, has violated a sacred trust.

If the Pollard affair brings some sense back into U.S. Middle East policy, all for the good. If the chips fall where they may in the current investigation, it may expose individuals within the American Jewish community who work for the interests of Israel, and then pretend that it helps the United States. Individuals who literally buy with millions in cash U.S. politicians who always support Israel. No questions asked. Period. A showdown now, however, can curb Israeli ultras whose wildest antics are encouraged by no-questions-asked U.S. support. Peace could actually come to the Middle East. Americans could be safe again. The agony and death suffered by Israel's Arab neighbors could end. We can bring national security to an Israel prepared to relinquish grandiose visions of dominating the Arab World by force.

Or, we can try to sweep the Pollard case under the rug. This would be a counsel of despair, an abandonment of our faith in each other as Americans. Christian suspicions of dual loyalty or "Israel First" inclinations on the part of American Jews would continue their unhealthy growth. One day a reckoning would come. Americans choosing Israel over the United States could try for a refuge in a radicalized Israel. By that time they might not be welcome.

Andrew I. Killgore, former US. Ambassador to Qatar, retired after 32 years in the Foreign Service. He is now a political and economic consultant in Washington, D.C., and also president of the American Educational Trust.