ADL's Abe Foxman Weighs in on Biden's Rant about Pollard

Excerpted from: Washington's stance on Israel and Mideast peace is murky

Natasha Mozgovaya - Haaretz - October 4, 2011

First Biden. The vice president told a roomful of Jewish leaders he had personally demanded Pollard stay in jail after Israel made a clemency request, backed by a number of prominent former U.S. officials and congressmen. The statement raised questions among some bloggers as to whether Biden, who had previously expressed support for freeing Pollard, was actually just trying to make his boss look better in the run-up to the 2012 elections...

It's interesting, however, that many Jewish leaders declined this week to speak about the incident on the record. Some were concerned advocating for Pollard would raise questions of loyalty...

The Anti-Defamation League's Abraham Foxman told Haaretz he thinks it's about time for the U.S. administration and the Jewish community to move past the controversy. "I was very much surprised to learn about Vice President Biden's remarks, since he seemed to support clemency in the past", Foxman said. "There was an appeal for clemency from people of both parties. I hope that Vice President will reconsider it. This is today an issue that has a consensus among the American Jewish community. It's almost inhuman to keep him in prison - he served his time and there is no justification to keep him in prison. We never said it was anti-Semitism, and he deserved what he got - but it got over the top in terms of punishment."

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