Washington – Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard and his wife, Esther, expressed hope on Sunday that efforts to bring about his release will be reinvigorated by the US Federal Bureau of Prisons changing his projected release date on its website from November 21, 2015, to life.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
The Pollards believed that the website before it was changed had given people false hope that he would automatically be released next year on the 30th anniversary of his November 21, 1985, arrest.
Pollard is technically eligible to request parole on the anniversary, but parole is not relevant for him because his judge, his prosecutor and the US government are on record in his sentencing docket as emphatically against early release at any date, making it certain he would be refused.
Pollard’s lawyers would not be able to effectively contest those recommendations, because they have been prevented from seeing the classified portions of his sentencing file. The lawyers received beyond top secret clearance from the US government for the purpose of seeing the file and then they were not permitted to see it, because a court ruled that they lacked a “need to know.”
The US Supreme Court refused to hear the case, leaving Pollard no legal redress other than a commutation of his sentence by the US president.
“Now that it is clear that the 2015 release date was a pernicious lie – as Jonathan and I have been saying all along,” Esther Pollard told The Jerusalem Post. “We expect this to be a wake-up call to our leaders in Israel and the American Jewish community to finally step up and do whatever is necessary to rescue Jonathan.
He remains hopeful, but he is in extremely poor health.
Serious, determined intervention to end his unjust, grossly disproportionate sentence cannot wait.”
She said that for prisoners who received life sentences at the time of her husbands incarceration, life sentences were for 45 years.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked US President Barack Obama to commute Pollard’s sentence when they met at the White House on Wednesday. Then-president Shimon Peres, who had a better relationship with Obama than Netanyahu does, also asked the American president to release him, and he vowed to continue to work for Pollard’s freedom when he left his post.
American presidents tend to issue a series of commutations and pardons during Thanksgiving, which falls this year on November 27.
Lie? The government said he would never get out. The 2015 date was the usual date for usual criminals. Everyone who follows the case knows he will die in jail.
Obama will do what is good for Obama and no one else, except for the socialist liberal democrat party, that is.
The article starts out that he was an Israeli agent. To this date the Israeli government has denied his being their agent. (Which everyone know is a lie, it just hampered any attempts to negotiate his release.
He was not an “agent of a foreign power” … like John Walker, Alrich Ames, and Robert Hannsen, he is a traitor. He is a US citizen who betrayed his country for cash. No sympathy AT ALL.
#2
So Obama is evil
And so was George Bush (the Lesser)
And so was Bill Clinton
And so was George Bush (the Greater)
And so was Ronald Reagan. After all, none of them released Pollard.
Why are there always cries of help for traitors like Pollard or ganovim like SMR and Dwek or child molestors too many to name?? Ninty nine plus percent of yidden are loyal to America, work hard to feed their families, pay their taxes and don’t commit fraud yet their reputations in the eyes of the goyim are smeared by those name above who have been a blight on the tizbur.
to #9 : Pollard is not in the same class as those you list. In comparison, Pollard is a selfless hero. Please familiarize yourelf with the highlights of the Pollard story and you will immediately see the differences.
Further, the anti-Semitism that you perceive is not because of the virtual non-existant percentage number of Jewish law-breakers. Even if every Jew, including you, was a pristine perfect citizen, without even a parking violation, the anti-Semitism would not disappear. Face up to it. They just don’t like YOU.
We have no solution other than reaching out to American public and ask them to demand justice for Pollard. He has long deserved clemency by any standard of comparison to any other convicted criminal. Yes, he violated the law. But he has more than paid for his crime with 30 years of prison while similar convictions draws 0-10 years for anyone else. Deluge the White House non-stop until he is released. Keep the Pollard issue on Page 1 continuously. Put Pollard of the agenda of every Jewish and Justice organization. Push for every law school to review every aspect of the Pollard prosecution and sentencing. Beseach every judge, federal, state, and local, to issue an opinion on the ongoing injustice of the continued icarceration of Pollard. Have as many non-stop vigils as possible in front of th White House, Supreme Court, and Congress. Let every phone line to White House be overloaded with calls for clemency for Pollard. Let every call-in talk show have people raise the issue and focust discussions on every detail that cries out for clemency.
א) פדיון שבויים קודם לפרנסת עניים ולכסותן, ואין מצוה גדולה כפדיון שבויים, הילכך לכלדבר מצוה שגבו מעות בשבילו, יכולים לשגותן לפדיון שבויים, ואפילו אם גבו לצורך בנין בית הכנסת, ואפילו
אם קנו העצים והאבנים והקצום לצורך הבנין שאסור למכרם בשביל מצוה אחרת, מותר למכרם לצורך פדיון שבויים, אבל אם בנאוהו כבר לא ימכרו אותו
#10 A remarkably well-paid selfless hero, don’t you think?
To all those (14, 15, & 18) that accuse Pollard of giving information to Israel for money. Please check the story. Pollard brought the information to Israel on his own without asking for a dime. Israel’s intelliegence agents insisted that Pollard accept money because that is how they work.
No. 14, please realize that attacking the weakest of our people is precisely what Amalek did. Of course, Boruch HaShem, America is no Amalek. Nevertheless, we as a people have a responsibility to protect and help the weakest amongst us. Unquestionably, the continued imprisonment of Pollard is a towering injustice and, as a people, we have a holy obligation (chov kodosh) to do wahtever we can to help Pollard. As Americans, we have a moral responsibility to cry out aloud for Pollard. Just imagine, G-d forbid, if it was someone close to you or you yourself that was a victim of injustice. Would you want us to sit in judgment and only fight for the most righteous amongst us.
I dare say that you’d complain more about what you’d feel is an unjustified parking ticket than you would for a suffering Jewish brother !!!!
# 19: Molesting little children is a terrible crime deserving of the mose severe punishment. However, Pollard is not and never was accused of molesting children. No one is covering up his crime. He pled guilty and has more than paid for his crime with 30 years of prison time. I agree with your feelings, but please don’t mix Pollard into it.