Clinton Did Promise to Release Pollard, Israeli Insider Says
Julie Stahl, Jerusalem Bureau Chief
Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - Contrary to his own claims, former U.S. President Bill Clinton did promise to release convicted spy Jonathon Pollard as part of the Wye River Memorandum that Israel and the Palestinians signed in 1998 — but Clinton went back on his word at the last minute, said an Israeli insider who attended the Wye talks.
In his autobiography My Life , Clinton denied that he had ever promised to release Pollard, an American convicted of spying on behalf of Israel and sentenced to life in prison in 1987.
Pollard has served longer than any other person convicted of espionage on behalf of an ally with no intent to harm the U.S.; and he is the only person in U.S. history to have received a life sentence for spying for an ally.
Successive Israeli prime ministers have taken up the case with successive U.S. administrations in an attempt to obtain a pardon for Pollard, but to no avail.
In mid-October 1998, Clinton hosted a summit between Israel (led by then Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu) and the Palestinians )led by Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat) at Wye River, Maryland.
According to Clinton, Netanyahu threatened that he would cancel the agreement if Clinton did not release Pollard.
According to Clinton, Netanyahu said that Clinton had promised in an earlier meeting to release Pollard, and that was why Netanyahu had accepted other conditions in the agreement.
But, Clinton wrote, the truth is that he had told Netanyahu that if the release of Pollard was necessary for him to make peace, then he would be inclined to do it and that he would check with his people.
Clinton said CIA Directory George Tenet and National Security Advisor Sandy Berger and others opposed the move - with Tenet threatening to quit — so Clinton closed the door on the idea.
But one Israeli insider who attended the Wye River talks told CNSNews.com that Clinton had promised to release Pollard.
At 4:00 a.m. on the day of the signing, the Israeli delegation received a phone call saying there was “no deal,” said the Israeli source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
It was part of the whole deal, but Clinton went back on his word, the source said.
The Israeli team then met again to decide if they would sign the agreement, the source added.
In a statement on the “Justice for Jonathon Pollard” website, Pollard himself blamed Israeli Minister Natan Sharansky’s silence over the last six years for enabling Clinton “to revive all the old lies and canards about me in his new book.”
Pollard said Sharansky, who was also an Israeli minister in attendance at Wye, had kept silent all these years about Clinton’s promise to release him.
Page Source (url): http://www.crosswalk.com/1270008/
Brave insider who didn’t want his name publicized. No name, no credibility.