Former Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard, who made aliyah in December 2020 after serving 30 years in a U.S. prison, has become a provocative voice in Israel's public discourse. Despite his soft-spoken demeanor, Pollard’s words carry significant weight, delivered with unflinching conviction.
Last week, he stirred the conversation further in an exclusive ILTV News podcast interview.
Over the course of a 30-minute, one-on-one discussion, Pollard offered unfiltered and controversial perspectives on Israel's most pressing security challenges. He issued a scathing critique of any potential ceasefire with Hezbollah—calling instead for decisive victory—and outlined his vision for bolstering Israel's military self-sufficiency. He also addressed preemptive warfare, nuclear deterrence, and what he described as the peril of "weaponized compassion."
“We have to adopt a new core doctrine of six principles,” Pollard told ILTV. “And the first principle is the readoption of preventive and preemptive warfare against perceived threats.” In other words, he argued, Israel must strike its enemies before they can attack.
The second principle, he explained, is that Israel should fight its battles on enemy territory rather than its own.
“There is nothing new here,” he contended. “It’s a policy [former Israeli Prime Minister David] Ben-Gurion first started and that we’ve forgotten about.”
Third, Pollard insisted that Israel must abandon the notion of proportionality. Fourth, he argued that Israel must stop “managing” the enemy.
“We have to stop mowing the grass,” Pollard explained. “We have to stop attempting to reach ceasefires. We have to pursue a policy of annihilation towards the enemy. They have to be utterly and decisively eliminated.”
The fifth principle, according to Pollard, is Israel's acknowledgment of its right to use nuclear weapons if deemed necessary. Finally, the sixth principle is the acceptance of annexation.
“If you come to fight us, we’re not only going to annihilate you by whatever means, but we're also going to take your land,” Pollard stressed. “This is something that most people understand in war: You lose, you lose your land or parts of it. And this is something, for example, in Gaza and in southern Lebanon that I firmly believe we should act upon.”
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Convicted spy Johnathan pollard in his home in Jerusalem on Tuesday
(Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)
War should end with victory and defeat
Israel has been waging war on its southern and northern borders since October 7. As the war enters its 14th month, polls show that the people of Israel want the hostages home and the fighting to end. However, proposed U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreements have been met with skepticism on all sides, including the proposed deal between Israel and Lebanon.
Pollard is an outspoken critic of such ceasefire deals. Quoting author and former MK Einat Wilf, he argued that wars should end with victory and defeat—“hopefully victory for our side and defeat for our enemy,” Pollard said.
“We have to get back to this notion of decisiveness in warfare,” Pollard asserted. “Our children, our husbands, our wives are on the frontlines—not just on the battlefield, but in our cities as well now. And because of that, our doctrine, our war doctrine, has to reflect the fact that we cannot waste anybody… We have to fight for a decisive end to the conflict. We can't bequeath the conflict to our children or grandchildren or great-grandchildren.
“A ceasefire, as far as I'm concerned, allows Hezbollah to walk away with a win.”
Pollard also expressed his belief that the hostages should not be returned if it means giving Hamas in Gaza a victory. His statement came just days before the Hamas terrorist organization released footage that allegedly showed Israeli hostage Daniella Gilboa being killed. Gilboa was one of the IDF observer soldiers abducted from the Nahal Oz army base on October 7.
The IDF reported that it was investigating the footage but had not yet been able to verify or refute its authenticity.
Of the more than 250 individuals abducted on the day of the massacre, 101 hostages are still being held in Gaza. The IDF has stated that at least one-third of the hostages are believed to be deceased.
“Where we have hostages, we cannot end this war allowing our enemies to succeed in using hostages to their advantage,” Pollard told ILTV. “It's difficult for me to talk about this, because I know what it's like to be incarcerated. I know what it's like to be tortured. I know what it's like to be abandoned. So my heart goes out to the families of the hostages and the hostages themselves. But unfortunately, hard decisions sometimes have to be made, and we have to admit that the way we end this war will set a precedent for the future.
“We cannot continue to endanger the lives of our people by allowing our enemies to weaponize our love for each other,” Pollard said. “We cannot allow our hostages to be weaponized against us, our love to be weaponized against us. We cannot allow our compassion for innocent civilians to prevent us from destroying the enemy.”