While Pollard has repeatedly alleged abuse while he was held in US custody, the interview marked the first time that he has claimed he was raped during that time.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n Pollard on Tuesday asserted that \u201cthe people that interrogated me took a lot of pleasure in what they were doing, and they didn\u2019t really care about what I answered. They actually took pleasure in hurting me. They never did that to a Soviet spy,\u201d he claimed. Pollard did not specify which department or agency he was interrogated by.<\/p>\n \t Pollard, a US Navy intelligence analyst, was arrested in 1985 and sentenced to life in prison two years later after he pled guilty to passing thousands of crucial US documents to Israel.<\/p>\n After his release in 2015, he was kept in the United States by parole rules until 2020, when the US Justice Department lifted the restrictions and he was able to emigrate to Israel, which had granted him citizenship in 1995.<\/p>\n Pollard was welcomed at the time as a hero by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and he became an outspoken supporter of the prime minister, although in recent years he has begun to voice criticism of the premier.<\/p>\n \t The former spy told Kan on Tuesday that the entire current leadership of Israel needs to be replaced.<\/p>\n On October 7, 2023, the entire country was \u201cabandoned and betrayed,\u201d he said. In order to recover, he urged, \u201cwe need a clean sweep. We need all new people with different perspectives, different views to come in and replace the old guard\u2026 left, right, and center. Everything.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked by the interviewer if he meant that all current Knesset members had to go, Pollard answered: \u201cAll of them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe have not defeated any enemy on any front, including the media front,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Pollard said he wants Netanyahu \u201cto admit his failure, his human failure, with regard to October 7 and to correct his mistake in terms of bringing Qatar into the Strip through money and everything else.\u00a0I want him to make us strong and proud as a people.\u201d<\/p>\n \t He also specifically criticized Netanyahu for what he alleged was the premier\u2019s subservience to Washington, including ending the war against Iran in June under US pressure.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sorry, a prime minister worthy of the name would have told the president, \u2018You know, we\u2019ll get back to you when we finish what we\u2019ve started just now. Until then, I thank you for your opinion, but keep it to yourself,’\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Pollard added: \u201cWhen I said [in the past that] I couldn\u2019t imagine a better prime minister, unfortunately, I was a bit too naive. Now I can imagine a better prime minister.\u201d<\/p>\n The ex-spy hit headlines recently after The New York Times reported<\/a> on a secret meeting he held earlier this year in the US Embassy with US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, which raised eyebrows in the American intelligence community.<\/p>\n \t Speaking Tuesday, Pollard said, \u201cI have my idea about who it could have been\u201d that leaked news of the meeting. \u201cSomebody from the CIA station did this. They still have a real grudge against me.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, he insisted that there \u201cwas no secret about the meeting \u2014 he greeted me, brought me to his office. I saw any number of people, said hello to any number of people there.\u201d<\/p>\n Pollard said he sought the meeting to thank Huckabee for his longtime support and his kindness to Pollard\u2019s late wife, Esther, who died in 2022.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we had wanted to conduct a secret meeting, we could have met here, we could have met in a hotel room, we could have met 100 other places. There was nothing untoward about the meeting,\u201d said Pollard. \u201cWhat am I going to talk to him about?\u201d<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tConvicted spy Jonathan Pollard leaves the federal courthouse in New York, November 20, 2015. (AP\/Mark Lennihan)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Image-from-iOS-78-e1609307149660-640x400.jpg\")
<\/a>
\n\t\tPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) greets convicted US spy Jonathan Pollard at Ben Gurion Airport, December 30, 2020. (Courtesy)<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\t\tConvicted spy Jonathan Pollard leaves the federal courthouse in New York, November 20, 2015. (AP\/Mark Lennihan)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/F250716AVS52-640x400.jpg\")
<\/a>
\n\t\tUS Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee speaks at the Muni Expo 2025 conference in Tel Aviv, on July 15, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni\/Flash90)<\/p>\n
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