Posted on 05/21/2007 4:13:41 PM PDT by Nachum
(IsraelNN.com) Pollard supporters are enraged at US Ambassador to Israel Richard Jones for his remarks Monday morning, implying that Jonathan Pollard committed treason or sold US secrets to Israel.
Speaking at a conference at Bar Ilan University on Israeli-American relations, Jones said, "Pollard took money and sold out his country... The fact that he wasn't executed shows that he was treated mercifully."
"Malicious incitement against both Jonathan and Israel" is how an infuriated Esther Pollard, Jonathan's wife, described it.
"For one thing," she told Arutz-7, "the U.S. has no death penalty for the charge on which Jonathan was accused or convicted. It has a death penalty only for treason - and Jones knows that Jonathan was never accused of treason. It is merely because Israel seems to have abandoned its agent in the field that the American Ambassador feels he can get away with talking like this."
"And where is Israel?!" she asked. "How can it be that the US Ambassador says that an Israeli agent deserved to be executed, and Israel is silent?!"
Arutz-7 contacted the Foreign Ministry for its response, and was told that the matter would be checked. The Ministry later issued a statement to the effect that Ambassador Yoram Ben-Ze'ev, the head of the North American Division of the Foreign Ministry, had asked for a meeting with Jones, "in which Ben-Ze'ev reiterated the Ministry's well-known policy on Pollard." Asked to elaborate on the details of this policy, the Ministry spokesman told Arutz-7, "It is well-known."
Such a reaction did not mollify MK Uri Ariel, the head of the Knesset lobby for Pollard. MK Ariel demanded that Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni herself demand an immediate apology from Jones. "For spying for a friendly country," Ariel wrote to Livni, "no one has ever received a sentence even close to the sentence that Pollard has served thus far - 22 years! ... The remarks by Jones border on anti-Semitism and a hostile attitude towards Israel..."
"Israel was forced to employ Pollard as its agent," Ariel continued, "only because America betrayed our trust and hid critical information from us regarding chemical weapons and anti-Israeli terrorist plots in Arab nations, in blatant violation of agreements we had with the US which we kept in full... The fact that Israel does not demand his release even after 22 years is endangering an agent that Israel sent on a mission - and also paves the way for statements like those made by Jones."
Mrs. Pollard said, "The remarks by Ambassador Jones fly in the face of former CIA director James Woolsey's opinion that Jonathan should be released already. He is also contradicting former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, who said that the charges against him were inflated to begin with."
New Bumper Sticker Campaign
At the same time, a new grassroots campaign is underway to "express the nation's desire" to see Jonathan Pollard home - via bumper stickers. The organizers hope to "stick" 100,000 cars.
Eliana, a 19-year-old from Be'er Sheva doing a year of national service in Raanana, is one of the driving forces behind the new campaign. "It's only been about a week, and we estimate that some 5,000 cars already have the new sticker. We have been shocked at the amount of people calling in or emailing us, asking for the stickers. And it's not just high schoolers who have free time and can give them out at intersections - there have also been many office workers asking us for 50 or more that they can give out to their fellow employees. People really want Pollard home already!"
The campaign comes on the heels of reports that Pollard's health, long impaired, has deteriorated severely in recent weeks. He is simply "living on miracles," his wife summed up.
The bumper sticker campaign organizers explain that given the fact that the Israeli government shows no sign of taking any initiative to seek Pollard's release, "we ask: How can we express in the fastest, strongest, and most effective way, the will of the nation to free Jonathan Pollard?" Their answer was to "very quickly distribute and post 100,000 or more bumper stickers on cars throughout the country. With this many bumper stickers on cars traveling the length and breadth of the country, it will be impossible to ignore the message: We Want Pollard Home Now!"
I’m waiting for Jones to make the same comments regarding Carter, Clinton, Pelosi, Reid and Murtha.
Right on Jones!
I know nothing about Pollard. I’ll have to research it.
Perhaps that is exactly what Jones meant. Perhaps authorities wanted to make sure that it wasn't possible for a judge to impose the death penalty and so they chose an option that would prevent that.
I’m obviously as pro-Israel as a person can get, but Pollard was a spy and deserves to rot in prison.
I’d like to buy Richard Jones a bottle of grand cru Bordeux. Pollard is a punk and a traitor. You can’t serve two masters.
Right there with you, I support Israel, but Jones is right.
A lot of those secrets ended up in the hands of the ChiComs.
That remark by our Ambassador to Israel was gratuitous and ill-considered. But it should be noted that the headline was not an accurate quote.
I’ve always been a big supporter of Israel, but the Pollard and Liberty situations have always hit my hot buttons.
After you do, you will porobably agree with me:
I know nothing about Jones, but I like him!
thats what you gamble when you play high stakes spy game.
he knew the risks
he accepted a large sum of money
let him rot, or it will encourage others
"For spying for a friendly country,"
Indeed true. However, if sensitive information is stolen from country A and given to country B, country A can no longer contain that information. Once Pollard passed on the information, the US needed to assume that it was in the ether.
"no one has ever received a sentence even close to the sentence that Pollard has served thus far - 22 years!
This is a lie. Many Americans have been executed for treason in history.
The remarks by Jones border on anti-Semitism and a hostile attitude towards Israel..."
This is pathetic and sad. Especially considering the real anti-Semitism that rockets over the northern border every few years.
"Israel was forced to employ Pollard as its agent," Ariel continued, "only because America betrayed our trust and hid critical information from us regarding chemical weapons and anti-Israeli terrorist plots in Arab nations, in blatant violation of agreements we had with the US which we kept in full...
I don't know to what extent this is the case. Certainly the pro-Pollard forces claim it. But Pollard, as a recipient of a very high security clearance knew the risk he was taking. This is the only way the government has to deal with violations of security clearances. If Pollard is given a deal because of international pressure, then there's no end to this.
The fact that Israel does not demand his release even after 22 years is endangering an agent that Israel sent on a mission
Actually, Israel should not demand his release for a simple reason: To send a message to their spies that if they get caught, the Minister "will disavow any knowledge."
He is also contradicting former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, who said that the charges against him were inflated to begin with."
Well, Cap's boss didn't pardon him. And come to think of it, Mrs. Pollard missed her big chance. I guess she couldn't scrape up as much cash as Denise Rich.
I agree. I am a big supporter of most things for Israel, but this is NOT one of them. I say we send Pollard’s body back to Israel after he is DEAD.
Maybe not, but I like plain-speaking folks myself. I hate diplomatic mumbo-jumbo myself.
Or oral dick-tation either!
I too am pro-Israel. I am also Jewish, and that makes me particularly furious when the name Pollard is brought up. I am disgusted with that man and, having heard her before, with his wife as well.
Anyone who sells out my country --- whether for money or ideology, I don't care --- should rot in jail.
I'm fairly fluent in diplo-speak. The ambassador could have said something like - "Israel is a great friend and ally with the United States - but that was not the issue in the Pollard case. The laws of the United States have severe penalties for espionage on behalf of a foreign nation - even if that nation is a close ally. The Pollard case was handled according to our laws, and should not be construed as a threat to our close relationship, blah blah blah blah, etc."
From the article, we should be able to box him up and send him home shortly.
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