US officials surprised as Amb Huckabee meets convicted American-Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee met with convicted spy Jonathan Pollard this past July in Jerusalem, the New York Times reported on Thursday.

The White House was not aware of the meeting between the two and was surprised to learn of it. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said, “We were not aware of the meeting, but we stand behind Ambassador Huckabee in everything he does on behalf of the United States and Israel.”

Pollard, who recently declared his intention to run for the Knesset, continues to stir sharp controversy in the United States as well. In an interview with The Jerusalem Post in August, he called for annexing the Gaza Strip and settling Israelis there, describing his approach as “Israel first.”

Officials in the U.S. foreign policy establishment struggled to understand the meeting between the two. Daniel Kurtzer, former U.S. ambassador to Israel, said that he does not understand “why an official representative of the United States would want to meet with Jonathan Pollard,” adding that “there is no logic to such a move.” According to him, although Pollard “paid a heavy price, there is no justification for rehabilitating his image” with the help of official figures.

Pollard is considered the only American ever sentenced to life in prison for spying on behalf of a friendly nation. In the 1980s, he transferred thousands of classified documents to Israel – an amount that, according to then–U.S. secretary of defense Caspar Weinberger, could have filled an entire room.

After being released on parole in 2015, Pollard was forbidden to leave the U.S., but at the end of President Donald Trump’s first term, the restrictions on him were lifted and he immigrated to Israel. The move was interpreted at the time as a gesture by Trump to Prime Minister Netanyahu. In parallel, Trump pardoned Aviem Sela, a former Air Force officer who recruited Pollard, even though Sela had never been extradited.

The meeting with Pollard is not Huckabee’s first step to be viewed as puzzling in Washington. Recently, he also hosted in his office Ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, after several Western countries imposed sanctions on them on the grounds that they had incited violence against Palestinians.