Justice4JP Release - June 21, 2001 - 2 pages
Please reprint; please recirculate
Dear Jewish Leaders: Abraham Foxman, Jack Rosen, Max Fisher, Mel Sembler, Ronald Lauder, Malcolm Hoenlein, Mayer Mitchell, Lonny Kaplan, Stephen Solender, Richard Heideman, Bob Goodkind, and Bonnie Lipton, who met with President George W. Bush on May 31, 2001 at the White House:
How is it that in 16 years and 4 successive administrations, Jonathan Pollard has never been on the official agenda of Jewish leaders when you meet with the President to discuss Jewish concerns?
JONATHAN POLLARD is a Jew who spied for Israel. He broke the law when he warned Israel that Saddam Hussein was preparing unconventional weapons of war to scorch the Jewish State. Jonathan is the only person in the history of the United States to receive a LIFE SENTENCE for spying for an ally.
In similar cases, such as that of non-Jew U.S. Navy Lcdr. MICHAEL SCHWARTZ, who spied for Saudi Arabia, sentences are usually fairly light, 2 to 4 years being the median. Schwartz confessed to and was indicted for the same offense as Jonathan. In deference to the Saudi ally, a deal was worked out whereby Schwartz was punished only by loss of his job, his pension and his Navy rank. POLLARD GOT LIFE. SCHWARTZ GOT NO JAIL TIME.
By way of comparison, those who spied for ENEMIES of the United States and/or committed far more serious crimes than Jonathan Pollard, include:
The Jewish leadership has repeatedly demonstrated outstanding lobbying skills on those issues that it chooses to espouse. For example, the Jewish leadership and the Government of Israel recently succeeded in obtaining a pardon for Marc Rich, a billionaire criminal fugitive from the law. The Jewish leaders lobbied more convincingly for Rich - who was not in prison nor in mortal danger - than they ever have for Jonathan Pollard, who stares Death in the face every day (G-d forbid) and dares not blink.
The deep involvement of the American Jewish leadership and the Government of Israel in securing a pardon for Rich, is a source of great embarrassment and shame for the Jewish community. In spite of the scandal surrounding the Rich pardon, both Israel and the Jewish community have ignored virtually every opportunity since then to demonstrate an equal concern for Jonathan Pollard.
Even Jonathan's new legal case - which documents a travesty of justice that has gone unchallenged for the last 16 years- has not prompted any sense of urgency on the part of Jewish leaders to see this case finally resolved.
This was the second White House meeting that you as Jewish leaders have had with President Bush since his inauguration. Both meetings were reported as "magical" and "enchanting" events where a "broad range of issues of concern to the Jewish Community and Israel" were discussed. The fate of Jonathan Pollard, an American Jew, dangerously ill and serving a grossly disproportionate sentence for his activities on behalf of Israel, was not one of them.
How is it that you, the Jewish leaders, have signed letters to the President calling for Jonathan's release, and yet you consistently fail to express that concern in face to face meetings?
How is it that in front of Jewish audiences, you claim to care so much about Jonathan, yet when you are facing the one man in the world who can sign a document to free him, you are struck dumb?
As a nation, and as a vibrant American community, all Jews feel deeply shamed by your silence. Your unwillingness to advocate openly and effectively to free Jonathan Pollard - after 16 years of this ordeal - demeans us as a people. Jewish history watches. Jonathan Pollard waits. How can you abandon him this way?
(signed)
Esther Pollard
Mrs. Jonathan Pollard
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