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Thursday, November 20, 2025
NYT: Huckabee met with ex-spy Jonathan Pollard in Israel, alarming US officials
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleNava Freiberg is The Times of Israel's deputy diplomatic correspondent.
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee met in July with Jonathan Pollard, a former US Navy analyst who spent three decades in US prison for spying for Israel, Pollard confirms to The New York Times.
Pollard tells the outlet that the interaction was “a friendly meeting,” during which he thanked Huckabee for calling for his release over a decade ago and discussed “a lot of things,” but he declined to elaborate further.
American officials cited in the report say the unusual meeting caught many US officials by surprise, including the US Central Intelligence Agency’s station chief in Israel.
The CIA declined to comment on the meeting, and White House officials tell the outlet that the White House was not aware of it in advance, and that senior officials were alarmed to learn it had taken place.
The US embassy in Israel did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report
Pollard, who is 70 years old and Jewish, was greeted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu upon his arrival in Israel in 2020, weeks after his parole ended and 35 years after he was arrested for sending US secrets to the country during the Cold War, causing a strain in relations between Jerusalem and Washington.
The Times of Israel Community.