Editing Jonathan Pollard (section)

===Investigation===
Prior to Pollard's plea bargain, the U.S. government began preparing a multi-count criminal indictment against him, which included drug offences and tax fraud along with espionage.<ref name="hersh" /> The government alleged that Pollard used classified documents to unsuccessfully broker an arms deal with the governments of South Africa, [[Argentina]], and [[Taiwan]].<ref name="hersh" /> [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] investigators also determined that Pollard met with three Pakistanis and an Iranian foreigner in an attempt to broker arms in 1985.<ref name="hersh" /> Pollard eventually cooperated with investigators in exchange for a plea agreement for leniency for himself and his wife. Israel said initially that Pollard worked for an unauthorized rogue operation, which they maintained for more than ten years. They finally agreed to cooperate with the investigation in exchange for immunity for the Israelis involved.

When asked to return the stolen material, the Israelis reportedly supplied only a few dozen less sensitive documents.<ref name="o200">[[#refOlive2006|Olive 2006]], pp. 198–201</ref> At the time, the Americans knew that Pollard had passed tens of thousands of documents.

The Israelis created a schedule designed to wear the American investigators down, including many hours per day of commuting in blacked-out buses on rough roads, and frequent switching of buses,<ref name="o200" /> leaving them without adequate time to sleep, and preventing them from sleeping on the commute.<ref name="o200" /> The identity of Pollard's original handler, Sella, was withheld. All questions had to be translated into [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and answered in Hebrew, and then translated back into English, even though all the parties spoke perfect English.<ref name="o200" /> The Commander Jerry Agee remembers that, even as he departed the airport, airport security informed him that "you will never be coming back here again". After his return to the US, Agee found various items had been stolen from his luggage.<ref name="o200" /> The abuse came not only from the guards and officials, but also the Israeli media.<ref name="o200" />

Sella was eventually indicted on three counts of espionage by a United States court.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/03/04/us/us-jurors-indict-an-israeli-officer-on-spying-counts.html|title=U.S. Jurors Indict An Israeli Officer On Spying Counts|last=Werner|first=Leslie Maitland|date=March 4, 1987|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=December 26, 2012}}</ref> Israel refused to allow Sella to be interviewed unless he was granted immunity. The United States refused because of Israel's previous failure to cooperate as promised. Israel refused to extradite Sella, instead giving him command of [[Tel Nof Airbase]]. The [[United States Congress|U.S. Congress]] responded by threatening to cut aid to Israel, at which point Sella voluntarily stepped down to defuse tensions.<ref>[[#refOlive2006|Olive 2006]], p. 212</ref>

During the morning of January 20, 2021, the last half-day of [[First presidency of Donald Trump|Donald Trump's first presidential term]], the [[White House]] announced that [[Donald Trump|Trump]] had granted a full pardon to Sella. The announcement stated that the State of Israel had requested the pardon and had issued a full and unequivocal apology. The announcement also stated that Prime Minister of Israel [[Benjamin Netanyahu]], Israeli ambassador to the United States [[Ron Dermer]], United States ambassador to Israel [[David M. Friedman|David Friedman]] and [[Miriam Adelson]] had endorsed Sella's request for clemency.<ref>(1) {{cite news |date=January 20, 2021 |title=Trump pardons Israeli officer who enlisted spy Pollard |work=The Americas |publisher=[[The Washington Post]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/trump-pardons-israeli-officer-who-enlisted-spy-pollard/2021/01/20/373d73b2-5b09-11eb-a849-6f9423a75ffd_story.html |url-status=dead |access-date=January 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125181242/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/trump-pardons-israeli-officer-who-enlisted-spy-pollard/2021/01/20/373d73b2-5b09-11eb-a849-6f9423a75ffd_story.html |archive-date=January 25, 2021}}<br />(2) {{cite web |date=January 20, 2021 |title=Statement from the Press Secretary Regarding Executive Grants of Clemency |url=https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/statement-press-secretary-regarding-executive-grants-clemency-012021/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120171920/https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/statement-press-secretary-regarding-executive-grants-clemency-012021/ |archive-date=January 20, 2021 |work=[[whitehouse.gov]] |via=[[NARA|National Archives]]}}<br />(3) {{cite news |last1=Stimson |first1=Brie |last2=Dorman |first2=Sam |date=January 20, 2021 |title=Trump pardons Steve Bannon, Lil Wayne, dozens of others; also commutes sentences |publisher=[[Fox News]] |url=https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-pardons-steve-bannon-lil-wayne-dozens-of-others-also-commutes-sentences |url-status=dead |access-date=January 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120180235/https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-pardons-steve-bannon-lil-wayne-dozens-of-others-also-commutes-sentences |archive-date=January 20, 2021}}.<br />(4) {{cite news |last1=Talmazan |first1=Yuliya |last2=Elbaum |first2=Rachel |last3=Mhaidli |first3=Sara |title=Full list of Trump's last-minute pardons and commuted sentences |work=[[NBC News]] |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/full-list-trump-s-last-minute-pardons-commuted-sentences-n1254806 |url-status=dead |access-date=January 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120172319/https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/full-list-trump-s-last-minute-pardons-commuted-sentences-n1254806 |archive-date=January 20, 2021}}.</ref>