Pollard Sees No Hope for '95 Parole

The Jerusalem Post - April 28, 1994

Jonathan Pollard, the US naval intelligence analyst serving a life sentence for spying for Israel, believes it is "virtually inconceivable" he will be paroled when his case comes up for review in October 1995.

"I stand no chance of being released in 1995," he told the Toronto-based Citizens for Justice for Jonathan Pollard and his fiance, Elaine Zeitz, several weeks ago, in an interview published this week by the Canadian Jewish News.

Pollard's last chance of release before his earliest possible parole date was lost when President Bill Clinton denied clemency on March 23.

Pollard is reportedly distressed that Jewish organizations pressing for his release refer to the October '95 parole date as if it were guaranteed, Zeitz told The Jerusalem Post yesterday.

"The parole issue is being used as a smoke screen," she said, adding that individuals in the Justice Department and national security agencies opposed to Pollard's release will work diligently to prevent his parole.

"He has already served twice as much time as anyone convicted of a similar crime," she said. "We're only seeking justice under the law."

Seymour Reich, president of the American Zionist Movement and a longtime Pollard supporter, charged the Rabin government with abandoning Pollard.

"The efforts on behalf of Jonathan by the Israeli government should be no less than their efforts for the Israeli MIAs," he said. "Even though he did the wrong thing [by spying], he can be considered by the Israelis as a soldier in their intelligence community."

Reich noted that government leaders personally appealed to the Americans on Pollard's behalf once last year, and were rebuffed. Still, he said, "it seems to me that the Israeli government could probably get him out if they tried harder, if they raised the stakes."

Pollard attorney Theodore Boutrous said he "anticipates a very difficult battle during the parole process," which will not get under way until the fall of '95.

Boutrous said that Pollard opponents in the defense, national security, and justice communities "were willing to pull every trick in the book during the clemency process, and that same group will pull the same tricks during the parole process. They will no doubt launch an equally bitter attack."