Jonathan Pollard says he does not know alleged spy Ben-Ami Kadish.
Kadish, 84, allegedly passed American military secrets to Israel during the same period as the former Navy intelligence analyst.
Esther Pollard, the wife of the convicted and jailed spy, said in an interview published Thursday that the first her husband had heard of Kadish was when his arrest was announced this week.
Kadish, a former U.S. Army engineer, is accused of spying for Israel between 1979 and 1985, a period coinciding with Pollard’s activities. Kadish is also believed to have been run by the same Israeli agent.
“He said he did not know Kadish and asked me if this would embarrass Israel, even though this was an affair that had been known for years,” Esther Pollard told Ma’ariv.
She further downplayed speculation that the new affair could hurt Israel’s efforts to win clemency for Pollard, who is eligible for parole in 2015. Observers believe the U.S. government will likely deny the request.
“It won’t take long for this to drop from the headlines,” she said. “There will always be people who want to interfere, but this must not obscure Israel’s goal, which is to rescue its agent from jail in a foreign country.”
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