Convicted Cold War spy John Walker dies in federal prison

[hughee99]

48. Is the issue really hypocrisy?

If you don't see a difference between dealing with an "ally" (Israel), and dealing with your sworn enemy (USSR), I don't know that there's much else I can say. Did Israel get off light? Sure, at least publicly (I have no idea what, if anything, went on as a result behind closed doors, but when dealing with an ally, that's how things tend to happen). If you were expecting Israel to get the same treatment as the USSR, you haven't been paying much attention to how international politics has been handled over the last thousand years. Certainly, our allies have been kinder to us in the wake of the NSA spying revelations than other countries have.

And in 1998, Israel did admit Pollard was an agent, which I guess would be considered "taking responsibility".