Former CIA Director George Tenet said he blocked the release of convicted spy Jonathan Pollard. In his new book, “At the Center of the Storm,” Tenet revealed that he told President Clinton during the 1998 Wye Plantation conference that he would resign if Pollard was released – despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence that he would not sign a deal that did not include freedom for Pollard. Netanyahu felt Clinton had betrayed him by going back on a pledge to release Pollard, who was convicted of spying for Israel.In the end Pollard, a former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst, was not released and Netanyahu signed the Wye Agreement. Pollard remains in a federal prison serving his life sentence.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
