The Long Island-based Jewish Star has published a particularly bold editorial regarding Jonathan Pollard – less about Pollard himself than about the U.S. treason inherent in its refusal to release him.
Entitled “Our America and Pollard,” the paper asks: “What is the sentence for a nation that commits treason against all its citizenry [in failing] to carry out justice without prejudice?”
The paper starkly compares the plight of Pollard with others who have been incarcerated: “As Russian spies in the U.S. are sent back to their homes in Russia within hours of capture, and as Israel has negotiated the release of thousands of terrorists from its prisons, and as Gitmo inmates are sent to the Bahamas with U.S. dollars in their pockets, and as murderers, pedophiles and rapists leave U.S. jails, one Jew sits in an American maximum security prison for 26 years.”
Warning to American Jewry
It then warns American Jewry that it is, essentially, unprotected: "…we should not discount for a moment the gravity of the [U.S. government’s] offense on each and every Jew who thinks he is entitled, as an American, to equal justice by the law that governs the rest of the society of this country.”
“There is an equitable set time of detention for an individual who commits a non-violent crime against his country,” the Jewish Star writes. “What is the sentence for a nation that commits treason against all its citizenry for its failure to carry out justice without prejudice? … [The fact that] our America allow[s] him to languish for decades in prison most certainly diminishes this nation's very essence, strength, foundation and security.”
Congressman Asks: Pollard Worse than Lockerbie Bomber?
At the same time, another prominent American has joined the ranks of those asking U.S. President Barack Obama to release Pollard – and taking a novel approach to this end. Rep. Allen West (R-Fl.), a former U.S. Army lieutenant-colonel who fought in several wars, wrote to Obama, ““If [your government] can consent to the release by the British of the Lockerbie Bomber back to Libya due to health concerns, how can we justify keeping Mr. Pollard behind bars when his crimes were clearly not as serious as a terrorist who murdered hundreds of Americans?”
An Election Ploy?
Another recent article on the topic calling for Pollard’s release stated that Obama needs to take measures to improve his standing among Jewish voters –and that the most concrete step to this end would be to free Pollard.
Farley Weiss, second-vice president of the National Council of Young Israel, wrote in the Arizona Republic that one of Obama’s options, “one that would correct an injustice, would be to release Jonathan Pollard from prison. Pollard has been incarcerated for more than 25 years for having passed classified information to an ally - Israel. He committed an offense for which the average sentence is two to four years. He has expressed remorse for his actions and cooperated with the government. More than a dozen prominent former American governmental powerbrokers, including former secretaries of State George Shultz and Henry Kissinger and Sen. McCain, have publicly stated they favor his release.”
In the event that Weiss, a longtime Pollard supporter, is correct, Obama is liable to wait at least another year - shortly before the next national elections in the U.S. - before actually signing Pollard’s release papers. American Jewry would thus be well advised to wake up to the warnings of the Jewish Star, and ensure that Obama is not led to believe that he can succeed in toying treacherously with them, and with Pollard, to gain Jewish votes.
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