Aviem Sella, the Israeli Mossad officer who recruited and initially handled former spy Jonathan Pollard, might soon be granted a higher military rank. IAF Commander Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin has recommended that Sella, who currently holds the rank of colonel (ret.), be granted the rank of brigadier general. Sella has been denied the promotion for decades due to the Pollard affair.
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Sella was in the United States in 1984, when he met then-CIA analyst Pollard, who would eventually provide Israel with classified US intelligence. Sella was apprehended when Pollard was arrested by the FBI in 1985 but he was nevertheless charged in absentia with three counts of espionage, and for years the US demanded that he be prosecuted.
In 1978, Sella was promoted to the rank of brigadier general and given command of Tel Nof Airbase, but he turned down the promotion to defuse US-Israel tensions and was subsequently appointed an instructor at the National Security College. He later retired from the military but continued to lend his experience to debates on strategic issues.
In January 2021, just before leaving office, US President Donald Trump pardoned Sella, following painstaking efforts by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, then-US Ambassador David Friedman and then-Israeli Ambassador to Washington Ron Drummer.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi has the final say in whether Sella will be promoted to the rank of brigadier general.
"The issue will be examined in accordance with accepted procedures," the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said in a statement.
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