Senior Israeli journalist Nahum Barnea wrote about the expected release of Jonathan Pollard and the possibility that he will immigrate to Israel. "Pollard took a huge risk when he decided to hand over his country's secrets to another country. His and his wife's motives were complex, and changed while in motion. Not everyone was noble. He acted negligently and arrogantly and was thus exposed. His operators equipped him with an escape plan. Instead of using it, he went to the Israeli embassy with a trail of FBI agents trailing behind him The damage was enormous," Barnea wrote in his column in the Yedioth Ahronot newspaper. "Pollard does not have the heroism of the Nili organization, not even that of Eli Cohen. Have some proportion," Barnea stated. The senior journalist also opposes making Pollard a "national hero." "Politicians from the right and left traveled to be photographed with him in prison. The Interior Minister granted him Israeli citizenship. The settler lobby and other elements on the right, who had an interest, nurtured Pollard's image as a victim of an anti-Semitic plot originating in the White House. Pollard's environment cooperated. Every publicity stunt only prolonged his imprisonment. It became, in effect, a bone in the throat of the two governments. "This awkward episode is over now. The sequel depends on Pollard. He may be confused, thinking that the festival to be held around him is just an introduction, that fortunes have been set for him. He does not know us well enough to know how short spring is here," Barnea concluded.
