Jonathan Pollard, who spent 30 years in prison on espionage charges and was released in light of intensive public and diplomatic efforts, called for the families of hostages to be silenced, including by imprisonment, in a video with Machon Shilo on Wednesday.
Pollard called the ceasefire and hostage release deal a “monstrous blunder.”
“When we declared war, the first thing that the government should have done was declare a state of national emergency and told all of the hostage families ‘you will keep your mouths shut or we will shut them for you’,” said Pollard to Rabbi David Bar-Hayim. “You will not interfere in our management of this war. You will not be used by the international community or by our own leftists who managed the Shalit deal as a weapon against us. If that means imprisoning to silence certain members of the hostage families then so be it.”
The released spy referred to the posters of hostages being held by Hamas as “poison darts in our ability to wage total war against our enemies.”
Pollard compared the situation with the hostages to a submarine which is damaged and the captain is forced to seal off a section with people in it in order to save the rest of the vessel.
Pollard added that, while he was in prison, he had opposed a proposal by the US to release him in exchange for Israel releasing Palestinian prisoners as a gesture to the Palestinian Authority.
Pollard warns Hamas, US will force end of war after hostage release
The released spy asserted that Hamas intends to drag out the hostage exchange and ceasefire as long as possible in order to rearm and warned that as soon as the hostages are released, the US will increase pressure on Israel and force an end to the war.
Pollard additionally accused the anti-judicial reform protest movements of trying to “take control” of the hostage issue and the care for those who were evacuated from the north and south in an effort to position themselves politically for “the day after.”
Pollard stated that if he had a child fighting in Gaza now, he would tell them to drop their weapons and come home. “The casualties that we are incurring right now are pointless. The future is quite discernable. We will not be allowed to destroy Hamas.”
In 1987, Pollard was sentenced to life in prison for providing US state secrets to Israel. Throughout his imprisonment, Israeli and American activists lobbied for his release and 30 years later, in 2015, he was released. Five years later, his parole expired and he moved to Israel.
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