I'm a Right-Wing Jewish Republican. At the end of my comments I have a few paragraphs from the website www.jonathanpollard.org, which explain why he should be released. Maybe it'd be great if the U.S. executed all spies, or gave them all life imprisonment, but the U.S. doesn't do that. Instead, the U.S. gov't is SUPPOSED to consider each case on its own merits. In fact, it did do this when it cut a plea bargain deal with Pollard due to his cooperation, to give him less than a life sentence. It was only when the anti-Israel Caspar Weinberger intervened by writing to the judge under seal, that the deal was set aside. The author of the original freeper post is upset not at Christians, but at JEWS for tolerating Pollard getting a far more severe sentence than spies for allies (or even non-allies, like Russia during the Cold War (for the most part)) received. He is hoping that Christians will be righteous and treat a Jew the right way even though most Jews themselves do not care. As for the responses to his post, re Israel doing what is in its interests: consider that what is in Israel's interest is in the U.S.'s interest. Who was dancing in the streets and passing out chocolate on 9/11/01-- was it Israelis (who declared a national day of mourning), or was it, dare I say, the Arabs and Moslems in Damascus, Ramallah (until Arafat decreed that the public celebrations there had to end because showing the U.S. what the so-called "Palestinians" really thought of them was a bad p.r. move), Gaza, Cairo, Baghdad, Jordan, and Jersey City, N.J.? Who shares our interest in fighting Islamic terrorism? Israel, or Saudi Arabia, which pours billions into wahabi fanaticism? Israel or Pakistan? Israel or Egypt? Who shares our values of tolerating a multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-racial society? Israel, where there are over a million Arabs (excluding the "territories") and thousands of Christians, or Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, etc., where the number of Jews in those places is 0,0,0, and 0, and where converting to Chritianity is a capital offense? The U.S. and Israel are on the same team and share the same values. When the U.S. treats a spy for Israel worse than a spy for other countries, it's wrong and all of us, Jews and Christians, should step up the plate and complain. Here's the pollard website quote
"Jonathan Pollard admitted many years ago that he was wrong and that he was misguided in his actions. He cooperated with Federal authorities to prevent further damage and pleaded guilty quickly so as not to embarrass the U.S. government’s reputation. For his cooperation with the Federal authorities, they agreed not to pursue a life sentence. The government reneged on their part of the deal and sentenced him to life imprisonment nevertheless.
During most of those years, Jonathan languished in solitary confinement and three years ago was sent to Butner Correctional Facility in North Carolina.
Though Jonathan believed that the information he gave to Israel was due to them pursuant to diplomatic agreements, there is little question that he was wrong to take the law into his own hands. But we must be united at this time. We must work together, in a united effort to free him. Eleven years is far too drastic of a punishment. Further incarceration would serve no benefit.
Consider that spies who worked for enemy nations including the Soviet Union were freed between 2 and 8 years after their imprisonment began. Most were only sentenced to short prison terms and none was stabbed in the back by having a plea agreement altered at the last minute.
Of particular importance is that Caspar Weinberger, who is notoriously unfriendly to Israel, was the main force behind the government’s cancellation of the plea deal. It was Weinberger who petitioned the sentencing Judge to give Jonathan the harshest sentence possible, calling him a traitor. We are well that Jonathan was never charged with treason. Weinberger wanted life imprisonment for Jonathan so that by this action the Court would classify Israel as an “enemy” nation. Passing unauthorized information to an ally is much less severe and is not classified as treason."

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