Posted on 12/27/2013 11:47:49 AM PST by cll
United States Secretary of State John Kerry has offered Israel the release of Jonathan Pollard, Channel 10 News reported on Friday.
According to the report, Kerry’s offer was made as part of the discussions surrounding the upcoming planned release of 26 terrorists from Israeli jails as a “gesture” to Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
Kol Yisrael radio, which also reported about Kerry’s offer, said it relates to the fourth stage of the terrorist release and is conditional upon Israel agreeing to release Israeli Arabs who have committed acts of terrorism.
Israeli officials were quoted by both outlets as having said that they believe the idea has not been cleared with President Barack Obama and as such were doubtful that the offer would actually be implemented.
Pollard’s release has been tied in the past week with recent revelations by documents leaked by Edward Snowden that the United States conducted surveillance on Israeli leaders.
(Excerpt) Read more at israelnationalnews.com ...
We... feel obligated to go on record with the facts regarding Pollard in order to dispel the myths that have arisen from this clever public relations campaign... aimed at transforming Pollard from greedy, arrogant betrayer of the American national trust into Pollard, committed Israeli patriot.
Pollard pleaded guilty and therefore never was publicly tried. Thus, the American people never came to know that he offered classified information to three other countries before working for the Israelis and that he offered his services to a fourth country while he was spying for Israel. They also never came to understand that he was being highly paid for his services....
Pollard and his apologists argue he turned over to the Israelis information they were being denied that was critical to their security. The fact is, however, Pollard had no way of knowing what the Israeli government was already receiving by way of official intelligence exchange agreements.... Some of the data he compromised had nothing to do with Israeli security or even with the Middle East. He betrayed worldwide intelligence data, including sources and methods developed at significant cost to the U.S. taxpayer. As a result of his perfidy, some of those sources are lost forever
... Another claim Pollard made is that the U.S. government reneged on its bargain not to seek the life sentence. What is not heard is that Pollard's part of the bargain was to cooperate fully in an assessment of the damage he had done and to refrain from talking to the press prior to the completion of his sentencing. He blatantly and contemptuously failed to live up to either part of the plea agreement.... It was this coupled with the magnitude and consequences of his criminal actions that resulted in the judge imposing a life sentence.... The appellate court subsequently upheld the life sentence.
If, as Pollard and his supporters claim, he has "suffered enough" for his crimes, he is free to apply for parole as the American judicial system provides. In his arrogance, he has refused to do so, but insists on being granted clemency or a pardon.
Who's been sold a lie? Who's 'bought into it'?
They are in a position to know the top secret information. They say what the poster you're responding to said, and they say differently to you, and to the other Pollard apologists on here, supposedly an American conservative site.
You sound pretty invested in Pollards comparative looong prison sentence, to other spies whose similar exchanges actually cost lives. (LOL.(
It’s not as though Pollard got off scott free given the time served and the number of interested parties, whom are among our friends, now demanding his release.
The issue is that the standard is skewed as usual against the Jew when it comes to drama and sentencing. All others get a pass, a white wash and a reprieve from loooong sentences where worse repercussions are on the record, reportedly.
Pollard has been in prison for more than 25 years. He's due to be released in 2015. It's almost 2014 right now ... and Israel is pressuring the U.S. to release him early because Snowden's information revealed that the U.S. and Great Britain were spying on Israel? LOL.
This is nothing more than political aggrandizing at this point.
Whoa is the Jew BS.
He was a freaking Traitor who sold out his country as a US citizen.
Shall we bar Jews from being in the US intelligence and military?
He has a life sentence due to the seriousness of his crime.
The Case Against Johnathon Pollard
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/576453/posts
Yes, I know it is the Hersh article, but I enjoyed reading the comments from 12 years ago.
I think Pollard should be released, given the number of other spies who served shorter sentences, but I won't hold my breath just because Kerry says anything!
Thank you.
However, I'm afraid that the release of Pollard by the Obama administration will be used as a cover for its anti-Jewish, anti-Israel positions and to build up a sense of obligation among Jews to support it. This doesn't mean that the release shouldn't occur; merely that it is a cynical ploy being done for political reasons. Needless to say, I wish it had been a Republican administration that had done this.
It was a Republican administration that did this in the first place. You do remember Reagan?
1. We've been through Republican and Democratic administrations, and none of them had any interest in releasing Pollard.
2. The U.S. government was supposedly obligated by law to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem by 1999, but here we are in 2013 and it is still located in Tel Aviv. Barack Obama is the third U.S. president to decide that it ain't going to happen while he is in the White House.
The life imprisonment of Jonathan Pollard for spying for a friendly country is wildly disproportionate to the offense committed .
I agree with that. Based on what I know about his offenses, he should have been executed after torture for information.
I think you’re right.
About Tel Aviv versus Jerusalem, I can’t comment, not fully understanding the reasons behind that, but the joint statement I quoted above, the one by four former directors of Naval Intelligence, tells me basically all I need to know about the Pollard case. Even digging deeper than that statement though just leads to a firmer conclusion in line with them.
Pollard wasn't spying for a "friendly country." The information he stole was passed to the Soviet Union.
bkmk
Let Pollard Go... He’s served his time in HELL!
It looks like Obama is going to be forced to release Pollard, if Obama wants to do anything with Israel and the Palestinians. Netanyahu just threw a real big monkey wrench into the works at the White House ...
Netanyahu gets tickled by a backbone
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3106770/posts
It’s taken a long time - too long for my tastes - but it seems that Israel’s Prime Minister might just be starting to discover that he has a backbone and that he can use it after all.
Israel’s Channel 2 is reporting that the Prime Minister has informed the United States that Israel will not release ‘Israeli Arab’ terrorists as a gesture to the ‘Palestinians,’ but that it will release them in exchange for Jonathan Pollard.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told US Secretary of State John Kerry that Israel would not release any Israeli-Arab prisoners in the fourth and final release, Channel 2 reported on Monday night, citing an Israeli official.
Israel has been reluctant to release those prisoners that, unlike the Palestinian prisoners, live within the Green Line and have an Israeli ID.
Netanyahu has reportedly asked the Shin Bet and the Israeli Prisons Service to compile a list of other prisoners to replace the Israeli-Arab prisoners already on the list.
The Prime Minister’s Office, however, said that Israel never committed itself at any stage to release Israeli Arabs. A decision to do so would entail another cabinet vote.
Those 26 terrorists should be released into the atmosphere.
That’s not the way Israel handles it. Keep in mind that Israel released OVER ONE THOUSAND ISLAMIC TERRORISTS - in exchange for getting just ONE ISRAELI SOLDIER back from captivity in enemy hands. That was October 18, 2011.
AND ... Israel does not have the death penalty. The last time anyone was executed was with Adolf Eichmann, on May 31, 1962!
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