Jonathan Jay Pollard, born on August 7, 1954, in Galveston, Texas, the youngest of three children to microbiologist Morris Pollard and Mildred 'Molly' Klein Pollard—whose family originated from Vilna, Lithuania, and was affected by the Holocaust—is an American former civilian intelligence analyst infamous for spying for Israel in one of the most significant U.S. espionage cases. Raised in a Jewish family, the Pollards relocated to South Bend, Indiana, in 1961, where his father became a professor, and Jonathan grew up primarily there. He attended Stanford University in the early 1970s but did not complete his degree. Pollard joined the U.S. Navy in 1979 as a civilian intelligence analyst for the Naval Intelligence Command, holding roles including intelligence specialist at the Navy Field Operational Intelligence Office (NFOIO) starting September 19, 1979, and later with Task Force 168 (TF-168). Despite lying during vetting, he received top-secret clearances and had access to classified information on U.S. intelligence assessments related to the Middle East. In 1984, he began providing thousands of classified documents to Israeli intelligence handlers, including Israeli Air Force Col. Aviem Sella and Rafi Eitan of Lekem (LAKAM), motivated by loyalty to Israel, frustration with U.S. policy, and allegations of greed. He was paid approximately $2,500 per month (equivalent to $7,484 in 2025 dollars), plus cash and gifts, and passed details on Arab military capabilities, U.S. intelligence methods, and other information; allegations include passing documents to South Africa, attempting to sell to Pakistan, stealing Chinese documents for his wife's business, and some materials reaching the USSR. Pollard and his first wife, Anne Henderson Pollard (married August 9, 1985), were arrested by the FBI in November 1985 outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. He pleaded guilty on June 4, 1986, to conspiracy to deliver national defense information to a foreign government (18 U.S.C. § 794) and was sentenced to life imprisonment on March 4, 1987, by Judge Aubrey Robinson Jr.; Anne served 3.5 years and their marriage ended in divorce circa 1990, after which she lived in Tel Aviv on an Israeli stipend. His case strained U.S.-Israel relations and symbolizes tensions in intelligence sharing. Israel initially denied involvement before granting him citizenship on November 22, 1995. During 30 years incarcerated, primarily in North Carolina, Pollard faced health issues including kidney problems and surgeries (e.g., 2011, 2012, 2014), with advocates citing humanitarian grounds for release. He was paroled on November 20, 2015, with restrictions including curfew, monitoring, and no travel until November 20, 2020, emigrated to Israel on December 30, 2020, settling in Jerusalem, where he received a government stipend equivalent to former Mossad/Shin Bet pensions and met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu upon arrival. His second relationship was with Canadian activist Esther Zeitz (died January 31, 2022, from COVID-19 complications after breast cancer), described as a disputed marriage by prison officials. He married Rivka Abrahams-Donin, a widowed mother of seven, on October 20, 2022. Post-release, Pollard has lived as a private citizen in Israel, focusing on advocacy for other prisoners and integration into society, while occasionally commenting on politics and security. His espionage remains debated, with U.S. criticism for betraying trust (opposed by figures like Rumsfeld, Cheney, Tenet) and some Israeli praise for exposing support gaps (advocated by Alan Dershowitz, Avi Weiss, Netanyahu, Rabin, Olmert, Peres, Sharansky). Since 2020, he has endorsed far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, advocated transferring Gaza Palestinians to Ireland (2024), called the U.S. State Department and UN 'enemies of Israel,' the Biden administration 'Amalek,' and suggested arresting families of Israeli hostages (2023); he refused a Knesset run with Otzma Yehudit (2022) and met U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee in July 2025.