CIA reportedly ‘alarmed’ by the meeting, which broke a longstanding policy of not speaking with convicted spies.
The White House has said it was unaware that a meeting took place earlier this year between United States ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and Jonathan Pollard, a former US Navy officer who was convicted of spying for Israel and jailed for decades.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said that while the Trump administration had no advance knowledge of the meeting, “the president stands by our ambassador, Mike Huckabee, and all that he is doing for the United States and Israel”.
Recommended Stories
list of 3 items
- list 1 of 3Iran executes six fighters accused of ties to Israel: State media
- list 2 of 3Yemen’s Houthis say arrested UN staff will be tried over Israeli links
- list 3 of 3Iran releases two French nationals imprisoned for three years
end of list
Huckabee met Pollard in July at the US embassy in Jerusalem, The New York Times revealed on Thursday.
The meeting was reportedly not on Huckabee’s official schedule and took place without the knowledge of US intelligence agencies, The Times reported, quoting two unnamed US officials.
Former US Navy intelligence analyst Pollard was tried and convicted in 1987 for passing thousands of highly classified US materials to Israel in exchange for cash and gifts. He was sentenced to life in prison, the harshest punishment ever given to someone for spying for an ally.
Pollard served 30 years before being paroled in 2015 and moving to Israel in 2020. He is regarded by some in Israel as a hero.
The case badly strained US-Israel relations at the time and is still seen as one of the most damaging breaches of classified information in US history.
In a televised interview with Israel’s i24 News outlet on Thursday, Pollard said the meeting with Huckabee had taken place at his request.
“I had originally requested the interview for a very personal reason,” he said.
“I wanted to express my sincere appreciation for all the efforts that he [Huckabee] had expended on my behalf when I was in prison,” he added.
Pollard said that he believed someone within the CIA stationed at the US embassy in Israel leaked information about the meeting to the media in an “effort to discredit” the ambassador and “have him removed” from his post.
“I think the people behind this are anti-Israel elements within the Trump administration,” he said.
It remains unclear whether Huckabee sought Trump administration approval before meeting with Pollard. But the CIA were “alarmed” by news of the meeting, according to sources who spoke to The Times, as it was a breach of longstanding practice among US officials not to speak with convicted spies.
Huckabee, a staunch Israel supporter and political ally of President Donald Trump, previously advocated for Pollard’s release while running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2011.
In his interview with i24 News, Pollard slammed members of the Trump administration, criticising special envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, who have taken leading roles in peace talks to end Israel’s war on Gaza.
“I despise Witkoff and Kushner, they were willing to meet with terrorists who massacred us on October 7 [2023],” he said.
