Convicted Spy Jonathan Pollard Announces Political Campaign, Calls For Ethnic Cleansing Of Gaza

Pollard's run for a seat in the Knesset signals that the rise of ultra-Zionist political parties in Israel is only beginning.

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The legacy that Benjamin Netanyahu cemented for himself by becoming the longest-serving prime minister in the history of Israel has clouded the recent memory of a political career that had become crestfallen until he was last reelected in December 2022. Before recapturing the position from his predecessor, Naftali Bennett, years of allegations of corruption and declining public support marred the reputation of Netanyahu. Since returning to the office of the head of government of the State of Israel, Netanyahu has led the country down a similar trajectory as it has become a pariah on the world stage under his leadership. The government that made Netanyahu’s reelection possible was one cultivated by forming a coalition with several of Israel’s most nationalist and ultra-Zionist political parties, whose presence in his regime has ushered in a paradigm shift in how the world sees the Jewish state. Yet, the public support for Israel across the world continuing to spiral downward over the fallout from Israel’s wars in the Gaza Strip and against Iran may not be the worst consequence of Netanyahu’s reelection, as the political climate it has fomented forecasts an even darker future ahead for the nation and the Zionist World Order it sits at the center of.

As fervent opposition to Netanyahu has arisen once again both domestically and internationally, it does not only come from a place of moderation. Israel’s political landscape demonstrates the Pandora’s box his reelection has opened, bringing forth an era of even more overt Jewish extremism in Israeli politics. The danger of that reactionary response is illustrated by the emergence of Jonathan Pollard into the Israeli political sphere. Pollard, the U.S.-born spy who was given refuge in Israel after being released from prison in America on parole after serving 30 years of a life sentence following his conviction on espionage charges, has formally announced his intention to enter into Israeli politics ahead of the forthcoming Knesset elections in October. The platform espoused by Pollard shows how extremist factions in Israeli politics are no longer a minority but a movement that has gained unstoppable momentum due to the leadership of Netanyahu.

Rumors of Pollard’s intent to enter into Israeli politics began circulating late last year following a clandestine meeting the convicted spy held with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee in November 2025. While many speculated that the meeting between the two had inherent political motives, both Pollard and Huckabee denied those assertions. “The reason I wanted to meet him was to express my deep and sincere appreciation for everything he had done to help me when I was in prison,” Pollard told the Jerusalem Post after news broke about their meeting last year. The American ambassador echoed Pollard’s position at the time. The unconvincing nature of the pair’s protestations led to the White House denying any foreknowledge of the meeting. Still, Trump administration officials remarking on the meeting used the opportunity to reaffirm their support for Huckabee amidst the criticism he faced for his rendezvous with Pollard. “The president stands by our ambassador, Mike Huckabee, and all that he is doing for the United States and Israel,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters in response to questions about the motives behind the meeting. Despite the best attempts of the Trump administration to downplay the significance of Pollard’s meeting with Huckabee, it has proven to have foreshadowed the inevitability of his political ascent.

When officially announcing his foray into Israeli politics, Pollard indicated that he would be forming a new party as the vehicle to realize his political ambitions. In an interview with Israeli news outlet Channel 13, Pollard stated that he would be forming the new party alongside Nissim Louk, the father of one of the victims of the attacks of October 7th, 2023. Louk’s 22 year-old daughter Shani was killed at the Nova music festival during the attacks, and her body was taken into the Gaza Strip by Hamas militants afterward. Nissim and his wife Ricarda Louk became two of the most outspoken voices among the families of victims of the October 7th attacks, gaining political influence by campaigning for the return of Israeli hostages and the bodies of victims before their daughter’s body was recovered when Israel Defense Forces (”IDF”) troops retrieved it from the Gaza Strip in May 2024.

Pollard stated that the attacks of October 7th and their aftermath were what finally led to his decision to enter into politics after years of consideration. In the years leading up to his decision to run for office, Pollard had been courted by other ultra-Zionist political parties in Israel. In 2022, he refused an offer to run for a seat in the Knesset as part of Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power Party. In the years since, his growing opposition to how the Netanyahu government has handled the response to the attacks on October 7th rendered calls for Pollard to enter into Israeli politics impossible to continue to deny. When discussing the impact that seminal date in Israel’s history had on compelling him to finally enter into the political forum, Pollard stated, “Up until that point, I thought that my abandonment and the betrayal by the government was the exception to the rule. But after October 7, I realized that I was not the exception, that the government and the military had betrayed and abandoned the entire country.”

Pollard’s political remarks in recent years have been rife with criticism of the Netanyahu government, which he chastised for not doing enough in the wake of October 7th despite the condemnations brought on Israel by the global community in the wake of the country’s war in Gaza and the domestic policymaking advanced by using the conflict for political leverage. Despite previously supporting Netanyahu, Pollard became increasingly opposed to the prime minister since the onset of the war in Gaza. He deemed that the Israeli government was not doing enough to win the war and to defeat Hamas once and for all, demanding new leadership with stronger military goals.

Pollard’s vision for Israel is one that is even more extreme than anything the Netanyahu government had been willing to officially commit to. When speaking on the question of the future of the Gaza Strip, Pollard expressly committed to a platform built upon the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people from the region. “I personally prefer the forcible removal of all current residents of Gaza and the annexation of Gaza and its repopulation by us,” he stated.

Pollard further elucidated that the foundation for that ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip would be one of military self-sufficiency. He touched upon expanding compulsory military service to include all Israelis. “I believe very strongly that everyone in this country—Arabs, Jews, it doesn’t matter, right and left—has to serve mandatory national service,” Pollard stated. His remarks come at a time of resurgence of protests in the wake of calls to end draft deferments for Haredi ultra-Orthodox Jews who refuse to join the IDF on religious grounds. Arab Israelis are also exempt from conscription into Israel’s military, though their exemption is not based on religious grounds. Instead, the exemption of Arab Israelis is based on the guidelines of the IDF Human Resource Department, issued under the military’s discretionary powers pursuant to the Israeli Security Service Law.

Opposition to the exemption of Haredi ultra-Orthodox Jews from being conscripted into the IDF is one position Pollard shares with former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett, who is posturing himself as the leading candidate to replace Netanyahu ahead of this year’s Knesset elections. However, that point of agreement is not indicative of any support Pollard has for Bennett’s candidacy. Pollard has been equally, if not even more, vociferously critical of Bennett. When asked by Channel 13 about his feelings toward the former prime minister, Pollard issued an excoriating condemnation of Bennett, calling him a hypocrite for criticizing Netanyahu for policies that led to the attacks of October 7th. Pollard highlighted the policies of the Bennett government, such as increasing work visas for Gazans, as leading to the security failures that resulted in the attacks.

Pollard’s criticisms of Bennett date back to 2021, after Bennett was elected as the prime minister succeeding Netanyahu. His criticisms were rooted in the claim that Bennett betrayed right-wing voters by aligning himself with left-wing and Arab political parties. That point of contention highlights how Pollard is more ideologically aligned with right-wing and religious nationalist parties in Israeli politics, such as the Jewish Power party helmed by Itamar Ben-Gvir and the Religious Zionist Party led by Israeli Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich. Both Ben-Gvir and Smotrich have advocated for the resettlement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to facilitate the Israeli annexation of the region as well. This ideological coalescence between Pollard, Ben-Gvir, and Smotrich highlights how the rise of ultra-Zionist political parties in Israel will be a defining factor in the results of this year’s Knesset elections.

Although Pollard has amplified his criticisms of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the years leading up to the announcement of his entry into Israeli politics, he has also expressed his willingness to work with him in the event Netanyahu is able to hold onto the office later this year. That outcome appears increasingly dependent on Netanyahu’s ability to continue to maintain the support of the furthest right-wing factions in the Israeli political landscape that were fundamental to his reelection in 2022. By building that political foundation in order to regain his seat as prime minister, the ultra-Zionist political climate of Israel has become emboldened to the extent that its future is much more certain than that of Netanyahu’s. The emergence of Jonathan Pollard as an influential figure shaping the future of the Israeli government highlights that while prime ministers come and go, the radical Jewish supremacy gripping the country’s political landscape is here to stay.