Another, perhaps more cynical view in Congress, is that the Pollard affair has been overblown because everyone spies.

"If we did not have the Pollard affair hanging over our heads, April 1 would not have looked so scary," a senior official said.

I think the critics of the Pollard affair miss the mark in two significant ways.

Following the Pollard affair, rumors circulated that Israel had penetrated other agencies.

The committee could play its most important role in taking measures against officials responsible for the Pollard affair, senior officials said.

Thus the Pollard affair is scandalous because of discovery, not rarity.

But Israel still seems unable to come to terms with the full dimensions of the Pollard affair.

The official mute-deaf-blind attitude toward the Pollard affair does not represent the outrage and shame that most of our people feel.

An aide made clear that I was the last person in Washington he wanted to talk to about the Pollard affair.

A decade later, the Pollard affair is not really a high-priority item for most Israelis.