Mike Huckabee hosts US citizen who spied for Israel: Report

US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee in July hosted an American convicted of spying on the US for Israel at the American embassy in Jerusalem, The New York Times reported on Thursday.

Jonathan Pollard, a US citizen, was a civilian intelligence analyst for the US Navy. Between 1984 and 1985, Pollard passed along hundreds of classified documents and over 1,000 intelligence cables to Israel’s Mossad. He was convicted to life in prison in 1987, in a high-profile espionage case that marked him as a legendary traitor during the Cold War. 

Pollard, who is Jewish, often talked about emigrating to Israel while working for the US government. 

A declassified CIA report written in 1987 said a “factor in Pollard’s background was his persistent and growing determination to assist Israel, either by emigrating to that country or by other means, which eventually meant espionage”. US officials at the time said that Pollard had jeopardised the lives of US soldiers deployed around the world with the intelligence he gave to the Mossad. 

The New York Times said the July visit was kept off Huckabee’s official schedule and that it “alarmed” the Central Intelligence Agency’s station chief in Israel.

David Milstein, Huckabee’s top advisor at the embassy, also attended the meeting, the paper reported.

Pollard, now 71, was released on parole from a federal penitentiary in North Carolina in 2015. He was banned from leaving the US, but in 2020, during the final days of the first Trump administration, the Justice Department did not extend his parole restrictions. Pollard moved to Israel, where he had been granted citizenship while in prison. He received a hero’s welcome for his spycraft. 

Huckabee, an evangelical Christian Zionist, is an ardent defender of Israel. He previously refused to admit that the Palestinian people exist and has called for Israel to annex the entire occupied West Bank. The latter position is in direct contrast to US President Donald Trump’s vow that he will not allow Israel to annex the territory. 

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It’s unclear what prompted Pollard’s visit to the US embassy in Jerusalem. In the past, even other staunchly pro-Israel US ambassadors have shunned him. 

Saudi Arabia

Pollard told the New York Times that he thanked Huckabee for supporting his release a decade ago, telling the newspaper that there were “a lot of things that came up in conversation” between the two men.

Shortly after meeting Huckabee, Pollard trashed his boss, Trump, telling The New York Times he was a “madman who has literally sold us down the drain, for Saudi gold”. 

Pollard appeared to be referring to the visit this week by Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the White House. 

President Trump said Saudi Arabia and the US signed $270bn worth of new investment deals this week. The two also signed a major defence partnership that US sources tell Middle East Eye is expected to fast-track arms sales to the kingdom and unlock access to advanced military technology.

Trump appeared to taunt Israel at an Oval Office meeting with the Saudi crown prince. Trump said he knew that Israel was asking the US to sell the kingdom F-35 warplanes “of reduced calibre”, telling the Saudi crown prince, “I don’t think that makes you too happy… I think they [Saudi Arabia and Israel] are both at a level where they should get top of the line."