Israel – Tel Aviv Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau wrote US President Barack Obama on Friday, urging him to commute the sentence of Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard to the more than 27 years he has served.
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Lau asked for Pollard’s freedom in a letter full of biblical quotations and references to former US president Abraham Lincoln, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and the Statue of Liberty. The rabbi warned of Pollard’s deteriorating health and pleaded with Obama to release the Israeli agent before he died in prison.
“Despite his admission and his regret, Jonathan continues to serve a sentence unprecedented in American history [for the crime he committed],” Lau wrote. “His health is fleeting and the remainder of his life is diminishing.”
In the letter, Lau quoted a verse in the Book of Samuel that warns that Jonathan could die. He notes that the Jonathan in the book is the son of King Saul but that it also applies to Pollard.
Lau asked Obama to permit Pollard to move to Israel and become a father.
He noted that Pollard would soon mark the unfortunate milestone of 10,000 days in prison.
“Let him live the rest of his life with his wife, Esther, in the State of Israel that granted him citizenship,” Lau wrote. “This action would be seen as a humanitarian gesture by the seekers of freedom in the world.”
Lau will have an opportunity to raise Pollard’s fate directly with Obama, because he will be with him when Obama visits Yad Vashem, of which Lau heads the board of directors, next month.
Meanwhile, Likud MK Moshe Feiglin wrote on Facebook that if Obama comes to Israel without releasing Pollard, he will boycott his visit and other legislators should as well.
“I call on MKs to join me in leaving the Knesset empty during the speech of the president of the country that continues to hold our brother in captivity,” Feiglin wrote.
Content is provided courtesy of the Jerusalem Post
Mr. Feiglin, you and your other small minded MKs are more then welcome to not show up for President Obama’s speech, but don’t go crying when US support slowly gets cut. If there is one lesson from Purim it’s that you aren’t in control. Bitchu B’Hashem Adei Ad. Rabbi Lau understands that, he’s just doing his (and Klal Yisroel’s) Hishtadlus.
his long term sentence is un precedented but so is Americas support for Israel!
rabbi lau tell ur gov’t to stop pursuing chridim that will merit for others to stop pursuing Israelis maybe.
Boycotting the President of American People because he did not release a skeptical asset is like asking the world to pardon you for your own ingenuity.
Pollard’s regret? What regret? He has been obnoxious and unrepentant, which is what earned him his sentence in the first place. It’s embarrassing that our leadership continues to take up the cause of this self-centered and destructive individual.
And now it’s going to be Obama’s fault if he dies? He’s going to die one way or the other (that’s Hashem’s doing, not Obama’s) and due to Pollard’s own actions, and the united position of many administrations both Democratic and Republican, it’s almost certainly going to happen in prison.
Move on and focus on some real issues.
Rabbi Lau means well. Republican Presidents and Democratic presidents were asked to pardon Pollard and refused. Pollard did not understand the implications and ramification of the information he divulged from Suitland Maryland. He spoke openly about his connection with the Mossad and the FBI arrested him on the steps of the Israeli Embassy on Van Ness Avenue. The statement by Mr. Feiglin is very foolish. Israel still receives a sizable amount or quite a sizable amount of military aid from the U.S. while domestic programs are curtailed. Such statement could backfire and have serious consequences for American Jews. Eyze chochom haroye eyz haneuled which is missing.
” In A Letter To President Obama, Rabbi Lau Warns Not To Let Pollard Die”
I do not know where Rabbi Lau shlita gets the idea that the President of the United States of America has control of life and death. One of the most fundamental tenets of Judaism (and many other religions) is that life and death are G-d’s monopoly.
I’m wondering when the Israeli government, is going to return the sensitive documents, which they have refused to return for 27 years, which Pollard sent them? Also, when are they going to produce Aviem Sella, and extradite him to the USA for trial. Sella was Pollard’s handler in this matter, and has been under indictment since 1985. However, he fled the country, as he knew that he was guilty. If those documents had been returned in their entirety (and not just a minimal amount of documents), and if Sella had been sent to the USA to face the music, Pollard would have been released a long time ago. Also, if Pollard had not consented to be interviewed by Wolf Blitzer, and had not appeared on 60 minutes (along with Anne Henderson Pollard), he might now have received a life sentence, as contacts with the media were prohibited, as part of his plea bargain agreement. Incidentally, Ann Henderson Pollard and her Father, were recently brought to EY, to live.
“Lau asked Obama to permit Pollard to move to Israel and become a father..”
Huhh….the guy is 60 years old and supposedly suffering from life-threatening illnesses. He is not going to start a family even if he was released, unless he plans on dumping his second wife (who he married after dumping his first wife Anna after she was released from prison) and finding some younger woman who wants her 15 minutes of fame for bearing the child of an infamous spy. Why do we keep making these guys heros when there are so many legitimate heroes who didn’t break the law.
Rabbi Lau is “warning” the US President? Well I am sure Mr. Obama is shaking in his boots.
“Let him live the rest of his life with his wife, Esther . . . “
Shouldn’t the word “wife” in the letter have been in quotation marks? Who exactly was the mesader kedushin?