Jonathan Pollard Joins New Right-Wing Party for Knesset Run

Jonathan Pollard, the former US Navy intelligence analyst jailed for spying for Israel, said Tuesday that he is entering Israeli politics ahead of the next election and joining Orot HaShachar, a new right-wing party.

Pollard said in an interview with Channel 13 that Israel should annex the Gaza Strip, remove its Arab population and repopulate the territory with Israelis. He said he supports “the annexation of Gaza and repopulation of Gaza by us.”

Pollard, who served 30 years in prison in the United States after pleading guilty in 1987 to passing classified information to Israel, was released on parole in 2015 and immigrated to Israel in 2020. He was welcomed on arrival by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but has since become a sharp critic of the prime minister and the current government.

Asked why he was entering politics after previously avoiding it, Pollard said the October 7 massacre had changed his view. He said he had once believed his own “abandonment and betrayal” by the government was an exception, but after October 7 concluded that the government and military had “betrayed and abandoned the entire country.”

Pollard said his main goal was to “unify the Right,” and argued that Israel must become militarily self-sufficient. He also called for mandatory national service for all citizens, including Arabs and Jews, and said those who refuse to serve should lose voting rights and government benefits.

He criticized Netanyahu’s claims of military success, saying Israel had not decisively defeated its enemies. Still, Pollard said that if Netanyahu returns to office through the democratic process, he would accept that result.

Pollard also attacked former prime minister Naftali Bennett, calling him “a liar” and saying Bennett should acknowledge responsibility for decisions that preceded October 7, including increasing the number of Gaza workers entering communities near the border.

Orot HaShachar is also joined by Nissim Louk, father of Shani Louk, who was murdered by Hamas terrorists during the October 7 massacre at the Nova music festival. Her body was abducted to Gaza and later recovered by the IDF.

Louk has said the party supports the permanent transfer of the Arab population from Gaza and Judea and Samaria, along with preparations for large-scale Jewish immigration from the Diaspora. He said the party aims to unite smaller right-wing factions that might otherwise fail to pass the electoral threshold.

The party is positioning itself to the right of Likud, arguing that Israel’s current right-wing leadership has failed to act on its own stated ideology. Whether the new party can build enough support to enter the Knesset remains unclear.