S and the Pollard Protestors

I am beginning to lose count of the number of times I have worked on Secretary of State visits, but I think this was my 8th. At least this time, I got to do something other serve as site officer for whereever the meeting with President Abbas was. This time, I was S/ES liaison, meaning that the site officers and line officers used me as the point of contact for dealing with issues, putting out fires, etc.

The work was a lot more interesting because I got to see what the line was like and whether I think that would be an interesting job to bid on. Looks like the job would be fun but exhausting. Liaison work was tiring enough, because there are only two liaisons, one each from the Consulate and Embassy, and the office has to be manned 24 hours a day. That meant 12 hours a day for the whole visit, and this time she arrived Saturday evening and left this morning. Needless to say, I am very tired.

Last night we got a bit of excitement when some Jonathan Pollard protesters made it to the Secretary's floor, where we all were (except her. She was at a meeting). (Have to wonder how they knew the floor she was on and how they got up there, given all the Israel security around...hmmmm). They didn't get near her room, but they got near enough that we heard them yelling "Free Pollard Now" and "We want Pollard home." Jonathan Pollard, by the way, is an American who spied on the US for Israel. That has made him a national hero here, and people argue he should be released because he was just giving one of America's allies info it would have eventually been given anyway. Plus, they are convinced he did it for ideological reasons because he is Jewish. The truth is he didn't "give" Israel anything, he sold it, and only after Russia turned him down. That's not ideology or zionism or anything else. That is greed. And he belongs just where he is, in jail. Which, by the way, is now where some of the protesters are as well.