Talk of Advanced Radar - What About Pollard?

Yechiel Spira YWNews Israel - May 11, 2008

One of the major news items surrounding this week's scheduled visit to Jerusalem by US President George W. Bush is the possibility of Israel obtaining the "Forward-based X-band Radar" system, a system that incorporates high-powered pulse beams to track objects in space. According to specifications, amazing as it may seem, the radar system can track a baseball that is 4,700 kilometers (2,820 miles) away, a reality that would permit Israel to track Iranian missiles far from their objective.

The system can be transported by air and it would permit intercepting an Iranian missile about halfway in flight, understanding that a Shihab-3 ballistic missile traveling from Iran to Israel would take approximately 11 minutes, military officials report.

Of course the US president is not that benevolent and he is demanding much in return, namely a signed peace agreement, something to show the Americans for his efforts in the Mideast and to distract the American voters from the complicated situation in Iraq. Such an agreement would demand major concessions by Israel, with Olmert telling Newsweek he remains determined to close a deal with the Palestinian Authority by year's end.

Once again, a window of opportunity, perhaps the last in the foreseeable future concerning the release of Jonathan Pollard is being ignored. Bush, an outgoing second-term president is more likely to pardon Pollard that any of the incoming candidates but nevertheless, Olmert has never hidden is lack of interest in the Pollard affair, with many accusing him of actually sabotaging such efforts, preferring that Pollard, an Israeli agent, remain in the US federal prison, as was the case with his predecessor, former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.