Opinion of Jonathan Pollard?

[DavidB.]

Honestly, this is an issue where I didn't see eye to eye with my fellow Zionists and Pro-Israel lobbyists for a long time.

However, he should have been released waaaaay before now, like in 2001. He served his time for the crimes he did indeed commit and should NOT have been held for so long. Also, considering that the U.S. spies on allies consistently, I think that it's hypocritical to completely play the victim card. In 1987, I believe a year after Pollard was arrested, Israel arrested an American spy in Haifa.

All and all I'm happy to see him released.

This. He did commit crimes (I don't like the fact that he earned money for that) and I can understand that the US needed to put him in jail for some time because that's what you do when people with access to classified information spread this information. However, he has been held for way too long. He has been treated very unfairly and the fact that this has to do with him being Jewish (and with too many American Jews being afraid to stand up for their fellow Jews) doesn't feel good to me at all. High time to release him.

[DavidB.]

Also, considering that the U.S. spies on allies consistently, I think that it's hypocritical to completely play the victim card. In 1987, I believe a year after Pollard was arrested, Israel arrested an American spy in Haifa.

Spying isn't the problem; it's just a fact of foreign relations. But spying on your own country for another country is an extremely shameful thing to do. The fact that he was doing it for financial gain just makes him an even more disgusting person.

This American spy in Israel, Yosef Amit, was Israeli born and was in Shin Bet. So a very similar situation but without the money.

As I said, I do not consider Pollard a hero or a decent person (but he wasn't the most evil spy ever either). I have citizenship in both America and Israel, but my loyalty is first and foremost to the United States. So, Pollard is in no sense a symbol of pride for me.

Awww, you're such a good American. *claps*

[DavidB.]

Also, considering that the U.S. spies on allies consistently, I think that it's hypocritical to completely play the victim card. In 1987, I believe a year after Pollard was arrested, Israel arrested an American spy in Haifa.

States also kill people all the time and oppress their own citizens. The nature of the state is to define what it does in terms of its interests, and what other states do as against the aforementioned interests. In the anarchic international system that at points mirrors Hobbes' state of nature, we have every right to act in a rational manner.

Your third sentence doesn't logically follow your first two sentences. A realist view on the way states act (in a descriptive sense; "is") doesn't imply that the perceived reality is necessarily "moral" or "good" (in a prescriptive sense; "ought to be").

[DavidB.]

Also, considering that the U.S. spies on allies consistently, I think that it's hypocritical to completely play the victim card. In 1987, I believe a year after Pollard was arrested, Israel arrested an American spy in Haifa.

States also kill people all the time and oppress their own citizens. The nature of the state is to define what it does in terms of its interests, and what other states do as against the aforementioned interests. In the anarchic international system that at points mirrors Hobbes' state of nature, we have every right to act in a rational manner.

Your third sentence doesn't logically follow your first two sentences. A realist view on the way states act (in a descriptive sense; "is") doesn't imply that the perceived reality is necessarily "moral" or "good" (in a prescriptive sense; "ought to be").

That's why I factored in Hobbes as well, so as to add the moral facet.

Calling the international sphere Hobbesian (which is something I agree with) doesn't have to imply a judgment either.