Former US Spy Calls for Gaza Ethnic Cleansing Amid Knesset Election Bid

Jonathan Pollard, a former US navy intelligence analyst, has announced his bid to enter politics in Israel. Speaking to Channel 13 television, Pollard stated that he will run for the Knesset on a platform of ethnic cleansing, calling for the forcible removal of all current residents of Gaza and its annexation.

Pollard's decision to enter politics comes in the wake of the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack on southern Israeli communities that killed nearly 1,200 people and triggered the Gaza war. He blamed the Israeli government for failure to prevent the attack or intervene quickly after it began.

Pollard was released on parole in 2015 after serving 30 years for selling military secrets to Israel. He and his wife, Anne Henderson, were arrested in 1985 after Pollard passed a huge volume of classified documents to Israeli intelligence. He received a hero's welcome from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu upon his emigration to Israel in 2020.

Despite Netanyahu's past support for him, Pollard has become a fierce critic of the prime minister. In his television interview, he stated that Israel was not winning the war and called for new leadership with a clearer and sharper policy.

According to Channel 13, Pollard will enter politics as part of a new party, formed with Nissim Louk, whose 22-year-old daughter was murdered in the 7 October attack. Despite his criticisms over the security failures, Pollard stated that if Netanyahu comes out of the upcoming elections still in command of a governing coalition, they will have to support him.