An Open Letter by 13 Former Prisoners of Zion to President Bush:

Before the flame dies, free Jonathan Pollard!

Dear Mr. President,

We are a group of 13 people who were prisoners of conscience in the USSR (Russian Prisoners of Zion). We write to call to your attention the tragic plight of Jonathan Pollard.

Our principle of identifying with our brethren and with Israel, with justice, freedom and the battle against obvious and veiled antisemitism took a toll of many years of imprisonment in the Soviet Union. However, none of us even came close to the period of imprisonment of a quarter of a century as is taking place in your country, in the case of Jonathan Pollard.

If, God forbid, Pollard should die in prison, complex questions will remain unanswered which may permanently damage the reputation and affect the conscience of America.

Pollard was active in a period that the evil Soviet empire of cruelty, espionage and world subversion was at its peak. Every clear-thinking person can ask himself: is there any agent of this horrible and hostile power that remains in an American prison? We all know the answer is - Nyet! Has anyone who operated against the USA during that period on behalf of any foreign intelligence service whatsoever been punished with such severity as Pollard? Again, we all know the answer is - Nyet!

Therefore, the question arises regarding the discrimination against Pollard which cries out. He exposed the ominous secrets of Iraq, not of the USA, in order to save Israel, a country friendly to America (the only one democratic, bona fide and reliable friend in the Middle East). So why is he loathed more than any true enemy? Why is he treated in such a brutal manner? Why and for what reason has there been such a travesty of injustice? Is it his Jewish origins, or his devotion to Israel that is the cause of this treatment? Is there really equality before the law in the United States of America or are there people of lesser value than others?

You, Mr. President, have the power now to correct this injustice, but only as long as two flames remain: the flame of the life of Jonathan Pollard and the flame of your term of office. You have the opportunity to pardon Pollard and enter the history books as the one who removed this dark stain on the conscience of your country. This is an act of benevolence of the highest order, appropriate for the President of the greatest world power, who supposedly stands for the struggle against world evil.

We urge you to respond in a positive manner to the call of the conscience of freedom-loving people.

Yours sincerely,

Former Prisoners of Zion:

Ida Nudel
Yosef Mendelevich
Rouald Zelichonick
Lasalle Kaminski
Lazar Lubarski
Aryeh Vudka
Silva Zalmanson
Anatoly Altman
Kim Friedman
Ephraim Cholmianski
David Maayan
Baruch Shilkrut
Aharon Spielberg