Bringing Jonathan Home (Pollard)

Justice for Jonathan Pollard ^

[RCW2001]

Professor Paul Eidelberg - IMRA - October 28, 2002

How are we to understand the grossly prolonged and cruel incarceration of Jonathan Pollard, and what may be done to liberate this suffering Jew and bring him home, to unite him with his devoted wife and the country he has served?

To begin with, let us consider some of the principals responsible for Jonathan's unduly long imprisonment-decreed for life even though he conveyed classified information to a friendly state, cooperated with his prosecutors, and by all that is fair and just should have received a relatively short term in prison for violating American law.

First, a word about three American officials. One is former Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger. Perhaps to prove his detachment from his partly Jewish ancestry, Weinberger publicly exaggerated the gravity of Jonathan's crime and secretly and unlawfully prejudiced his trial. Another is Ruth Bader Ginsberg, now a justice of the Supreme Court. As a member of the Apellate Court, Judge Ginsberg, whose reputation as a liberal is impeccable, proved how thoroughly liberated she is from Judaism by voting against Jonathan's lawyer's appeal for a retrial. And then there is Bill Clinton. This flamboyant president let Jonathan languish in jail yet pardoned an escaped felon, Mark Rich, who had contributed to a Clinton campaign fund.

More shameful, the heads of American Jewish organizations have failed to rally to Jonathan's cause in their well-publicized meetings at the White House. Apparently, urging the occupant of the Oval Office to pardon Jonathan Pollard might make them too appear too conspicuous as Jews. And so Jews in America have been rather silent about this modern Dreyfus.

And there have been various prime ministers of Israel who have forsaken their duty to liberate Jewish captives and bring them home. Jonathan, betrayed by Israel's embassy in Washington, which turned him over to the FBI, has become a citizen of Israel. Nevertheless, Israel's current Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, has avoided the Pollard issue in meetings with President George W. Bush. Sacrificing Jews for "reasons of state" - however irrational these reasons may be - has become habitual with this prime minister, who rejects zero tolerance for Arab terrorism. Jews just don't want to appear too "pushy" lest they disturb the "goyim."

So, if Jews will not do what is necessary to liberate Jonathan Pollard, perhaps the "goyim" may be prompted to do so. It was Christians, not Jews, who shamed France for the unjust trialand imprisonment of Alfred Dreyfus. Here I am reminded of a former colleague of mine,Professor Angelo Codevilla, a devout Catholic and former staff member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, who bravely denounced the American government's skullduggery in Jonathan's trial and the unprecedented length and cruelty of his incarceration.

And yet, because the Jewish State of Israel exists, it remains for Jews to bring Jonathan home, and they dare not shirk this responsibility. Timid and myopic Jews do not see that Jonathan's lonely imprisonment and the world's indifference to his fate is symbolic of Israel, the maligned, abandoned, and ever "suffering servant of the Lord." Little to these Jews realize that their timidity arouses the contempt of Gentiles, not only for them but for Israel as well. They do not see that Jonathan Pollard's bondage is linked to Israel's bondage. Indeed, until Israel brings Jonathan home, Israel will remain the scapegoat of nations, and Jews in this country, like Jonathan, will remain expendable.

Biographical Note: Paul Eidelberg (Ph.D. University of Chicago) is the author of ten books on American politics, the Arab-Israel conflict, and Jewish philosophy. Prof. Eidelberg is on the Editorial Board of Israel's premier journal, Nativ, and on the Advisory Council of the Ariel Center of Policy Research.

[Joe Boucher]

What I said was by no means a slam on Isreael. I just stated the facts. Pollard is a spy and got caught. He did turn over to Israel the crown jewels in info though and did so for years.
Yes we the U.S.A. spy and as you say on allies. And I sould expect each country to follow their interests.
One should be aware though that Israeli interests don't always coincide with an ally.
Pollard is in jail for spting. It doesn't matter who for. May he rot in jail until hell freezes.

[montag813]

ENOUGH OF THIS CRAP! HE IS A TRAITOR! HE SHOULD ROT IN JAIL.

[DoctorMichael]

If his head could be mounted on a pole for all to see under the U.S. judicial system, I would have endorsed it.

Ditto those sentiments.

[Dog Gone]

I'm not for releasing any spy. I'd support killing them, especially if they're supposedly one of our guys.

Pollard doesn't deserve freedom. I want his life ruined permanently. Frankly, I want him dead.

[JohnathanRGalt]

Even Aldrich Ames wasn't treated as bad as Pollard. Why is there such a difference in punishments?

The Ames Case

The following articles deal with the case of Aldrich Ames, a high-ranking CIA employee - the chief of counter intelligence in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union - who spied for the Soviet Union.

Unlike Pollard, Ames was indicted for treason. He was a traitor who gave critical defense secrets to a U.S. enemy. Ames' actions resulted in the deaths of at least 11 U.S. agents.

By contrast, Pollard gave information to an ally, Israel. This information was being secretly embargoed from Israel despite a signed information-sharing agreement between Israel and the US.

Jonathan Pollard was never accused of, or indicted for treason. Neither was he ever indicted for harming the US. Pollard's only indictment was one count of passing classified information to an ally. The median sentence this charge carries is 2 to 4 years. Despite this, without benefit of trial and as the result of a government-violated plea agreement, Jonathan Pollard received the same sentence as Ames - life imprisonment.

In many ways Ames' treatment has been far more benign than Pollard's. For example, Pollard's conditions of incarceration have consistently been far more harsh. Moreover, unlike Ames who was only briefly held in solitary confinement during his intial debriefing, Jonathan Pollard spent 7 of his 14 years in solitary confinement. He was also unjustly held for a year in a mental asylum for the criminally insane. There, he was routinely deprived of his clothing and his eyeglasses in attempts to humilate and "break" him. Doctors attest that he was NOT a patient.

http://www.jonathanpollard.org/ames.htm

The Schwartz Case

The following articles deal with the 1995 case of (American Navy) Lcdr. Michael Schwartz, a non-Jew who spied for Saudi Arabia.

Schwartz was indicted and confessed, and yet never spent a day in prison.

http://www.jonathanpollard.org/schwartz.htm

The Lee Case

The following articles deal with the 1998 case of Peter Lee, a Taiwanese-born American nuclear physicist who gave critical defense secrets to China and was sentenced to only one year in a halfway house. This stands in stark contrast to the life sentence Jonathan Pollard received for the same indictment as Lee - passing classified information to a friendly nation.

http://www.jonathanpollard.org/lee.htm

[FreedomPoster]

Just read the thread. There's a consensus developing. . . .

[sneakypete]

Frankly, I want him dead.

I have no problem at all with that. Other than wanting his wife sitting in his lap when the switch for the electric chair is thrown.

[Southern Federalist]

I used to be of the "Let him rot, however much I support Israel" school of thought.

Then I did some reading of statements by conservatives like Ted Olson and Angelo Codevilla . Olson was Pollard's attorney, but he is not stupid and not dishonest. Codevilla is a tough-minded conservative foreign policy realist. He has written a whole book, Between the Alps and a Hard Place criticizing the campaign by Jewish organizations in the '90's for reparations from Switzerland, so he is not exactly a tool of the Learned Elders of Zion.

Upshot: there are too many wierd things about the Pollard case for me. I don't know if I would call it antisemitism, but it certainly sounds like politicians and bureaucracy in full CYA mode.

The disparity between Pollard's sentence and those of others who did more harm is troubling. Why, for example, is Pollard doing life while Ana Belen Montes is doing 25 years?

Those who insist that there is something shameful about Israeli governments asking for Pollard's release apparently watched too much "Mission: Impossible" in their youth and believe that a government should "disavow any knowledge" of its intelligence people when they get caught. Israel for all we know has people inside Iraq and Iran. How encouraged they would be if Israel wouldn't even ask the friendly U. S. to free Pollard.

[Non-Sequitur]

How can Israel complain about the treatment of Pollard when they have kept Mordechai Vanunu in jail for the last 16 years, much of it in solitary confinement, for the crime of confirming to a British newspaper the existence of an Israeli nuclear weapons program? Surely what is good for the goose is good for the gander?

[w.t.sherman]

Your are absolutely correct. The people who want to see Pollard out of prison are people with divided loyalties - they should make up their minds as to whether their first loyalty is to the United States or to Israel. The Israelis are not our friends. They are the country supplying advanced avionics to Communist Chinese for their next generation fighter. The relationship of the US to Israel is one of a gullible sap and flunky to a clever whining demagogue.

[bvw]

Bile forms a consensus. The dry heaves. Ever have them?

Even if you haven't eaten for days you can still get the dry heaves.

Here there has been too many twerps consenting in stupidity and affirming raw hate. It gives any decent person the dry heaves.

Free Pollard.

[dark_lord]

The cases between Pollard and Lee are completely different. Pollard was tried, and found GUILTY of passing a ton of information over many years.
Lee was being charged in 1997 with passing a limited set of material in 1985. By 1997 the information had already been declassified. Lee made a plea arrangement, and the prosecutors let him. That normally means their case is pretty weak. If they had a strong case they never would have accepted a plea.

[FreedomPoster]

Erudite ad hominem. I'm impressed.

[JohnathanRGalt]

How can Israel complain about the treatment of Pollard when they have kept Mordechai Vanunu in jail for the last 16 years, much of it in solitary confinement, for the crime of confirming to a British newspaper the existence of an Israeli nuclear weapons program? Surely what is good for the goose is good for the gander?

Vanunu was sentenced to 18 years. He should be out in 2004 but he was up for parole (two years early) at the end of last month. Google news makes no mention of the outcome of his parole hearing one way or the other. Anyone know? I've sent a message to the webmasters of the Vanunu website to see if they know. I'll report back.

Jonathan Pollard is now in his 18th year of incarceration -- and will probably spend the rest of his life there. Vanunu has been in jail for the last 16 years.