ISTANBUL

This July US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee met at the US Embassy in Jerusalem with Jonathan J. Pollard, an American who served 35 years in prison for spying for Israel, The New York Times reported on Thursday.

Pollard confirmed the meeting to the newspaper, noting it was the first time in a decade that a US official had hosted him inside an American government facility since his release.

He described the encounter as “a friendly meeting,” but US officials told The New York Times that Huckabee kept it off his public schedule and that the CIA’s station chief in Israel was alarmed that the meeting took place.

Pollard said he thanked Huckabee for supporting his release, noting the former Republican presidential hopeful had advocated for his freedom years earlier. He added only that “a lot of things” were discussed, without providing details.

He also said he had no regrets about spying for Israel, claiming the US withheld intelligence from Israel, and sharply criticized US President Donald Trump as “a madman who has literally sold us down the drain, for Saudi gold.”

A White House official and two people briefed on the matter said the administration was not informed in advance of Huckabee’s meeting with Pollard, and that senior officials were alarmed when they later learned it had occurred.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that the administration had not been aware of the meeting but stressed that “the president stands by our ambassador.”

Pollard, 71, was sentenced to life in 1987 for spying for Israel in a major Cold War espionage case, viewed by many Americans as a traitor but embraced by some Israelis as a hero, and after his 2015 parole he moved to Israel, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed him at the airport.

The reason Huckabee and his senior adviser David Milstein agreed to meet Pollard remains unclear, though both have sought to build ties with Israel’s right wing, with which Pollard closely identifies.