In a final gift to Israel, Trump pardon’s Pollard’s handler
Image by Getty Images
By David Ian Klein January 20, 2021
On his final day in office, Trump pardoned Aviem Sella, the Israeli businessman who recruited Jonathan Pollard.
Sella, a former commander in the Israeli Air Force, was indicted on three counts of espionage in 1986 for recruiting Pollard. Sella was not extradited to the U.S. from Israel.
Though less high-profile than Pollard, Israeli officials had long been advocating for Sella’s release as well.
According to the White House’s statement on the pardon, Sella’s request for clemency was backed by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Ambassador Ron Dermer, as well as the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, and Miriam Adelson – the wife of late Jewish philanthropist and GOP mega-donor Sheldon Adelson. Following the end of his parole last month, Jonathan Pollard and his wife were shuttled on Adelson’s private jet to Israel, where they were met on the tarmac by Netanyahu.
The official statement about Sella’s pardon read, in part: “The State of Israel has issued a full and unequivocal apology, and has requested the pardon in order to close this unfortunate chapter in U.S.-Israel relations.”
Correction: Due to an editing error, the original version of this article incorrectly stated that Aviem Sella served time in an American prison.
It’s our birthday and we’re still celebrating!
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news.
This week we celebrate 129 years of the Forward. We’re proud of our origins as a Yiddish print publication serving Jewish immigrants. And we’re just as proud of what we’ve become today: A trusted source of Jewish news and opinion, available digitally to anyone in the world without paywalls or subscriptions.
We’ve helped five generations of American Jews make sense of the news and the world around them — and we aren’t slowing down any time soon.
As a nonprofit newsroom, reader donations make it possible for us to do this work. Support independent, agenda-free Jewish journalism and our board will match your gift in honor of our birthday!
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
