Martin Blank pens a cinematic thriller about Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard.

Jonathan Jay Pollard is currently serving a life sentence in a U.S. federal prison for the crime of delivering sensitive national secrets to the Israelis. Martin Blank takes an astute if somewhat fantastical look at Pollard’s story in his play The Law of Return, which is now making its New York premiere at the 4th Street Theatre. It’s as satisfying as any spy movie and twice as smart. The play opens on Jonathan Jay Pollard (Ben Mehl), an intelligence analyst for the U.S. Navy. As he slicks back his hair and flairs out his collar to the sound of arena rock music, you know how cool he thinks he is. Listening to him speak for more than a minute, however, lets you know that he’s little more than a dork playing James Bond. When Navy Commander Steve Harris (André Ware) gets approval for an anti-terrorist alert center, Pollard jumps at the opportunity to become his lead analyst. “I’m the best intelligence analyst you’ve got,” he tells the commander with dramatic gusto. He gets the job and immediately sets up a meeting with his hero, Israeli master spy Rafi Eitan (Joel Rooks). Since Israel and the US are allies, it’s no big deal if he passes along a few classified documents, right? After all, Israeli lives can be saved by American information.