The Goldstoning of Jonathan Pollard

Arye L Ben Harav
28 December '10

(Excellent! Y.)

I was amazed to find a young Jewish College student today who argued articulately for the case to just leave Jonathan Pollard in jail and that due to Pollard’s own actions he pretty much deserved whatever he got and we should not spend time or resources on extricating him from prison. To this fellow’s credit, as a second year college student, I am impressed with the depth of his knowledge and research on the subject and I offer my advice as a professional legal recruiter that he should consider obtaining a law degree and thereafter practicing litigation as a prosecutor for the state or federal government.

My friend’s problem with Jonathan Pollard is that the man is not ‘pure enough’. He is not innocent enough. If only my friend could get his hands on a clean cut case of “Innocent Man Incarcerated” then he would be willing to add his support to that noble cause. Pollard broke laws, he violated his agreement to keep quiet and all of his dealings are classified, and so we must assume that the Government has a good enough reason to consider him a traitor and to lock Pollard up and throw away the key.

This is, in some strange way, reminiscent of the 1960’s. Jews were at the fore of the Civil rights movement. We worked for the human rights, and particularly the judicial rights of non-Jews to insure that they, although poor and less socially connected than the average middle class white man, or middle class Jew , would get a fair shake in court. Countless Jewish students and attorneys spent decades in the 60’s and 70’s building cases for the benefit of the indigent, the wronged indigenous, the formerly enslaved, the poorly raised, the drugged, the drunk, the confused and the insane.

Alan Dershowitz, in his book , Chutzpah , describes how the judge for whom he clerked for would constantly beg Alan to find a little loophole, a little ‘Rachmones’ (mercy in Yiddish), for each poor soul who would appeal to his court. The judge took into account the fact that the defendant was poor, non-white, uneducated or had endured severe family hardships or a nasty childhood. It was only later when Dershowitz asked Angela Davis, (whom he had defended) an avowed anti American Communist, to assist with the case for Soviet Jews, that he received the standard anti Semitic slap in the face; the Jews in question weren’t worthy of support or defense based on their status as educated members of the upper class and obviously counter revolutionary, reactionary and anti Soviet (from whence came her political and monetary support). It is interesting to note that few of the Jewish individuals or groups involved in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s made efforts on behalf of 3 million Soviet Jews, who were systematically discriminated against in education, employment, housing and political positions. They were systematically denied the right to religious freedom and upon asking to leave the country were summarily fired from their jobs and left destitute and harassed by the KGB. Many were imprisoned. Natan Sharansky, former Israel MK and now head of the Jewish Agency was one who spent 8, (eight) years in solitary confinement in the Gulag. The first groups to make the plight of Soviet Jews into a worldwide Jewish struggle were Lubavitcher Rebbe’s Chabad , and Meir Kehanah’s group of followers. The State of Israel was indeed always active if mostly in a quiet way, on behalf of Soviet Jews during those years, if for no other reason than to try to convince a few more poor Jewish refugees to make Aliyah to the struggling Jewish State.

The Damning of Jonathan Pollard, by my friend, follows a litany of charges from treason to spying to outright avarice. His contributions to Israel’s security are insignificant to my friend and as for the reason he's spent so much time, that's his fault - his fault because he *didn't* keep his mouth shut , his prolonged sentence is now, his own fault. (“As for the reason he's spent so much time, that's his fault - his fault because he *didn't* keep his mouth shut not because he did.”) (“In exchange for violating his plea deal he received a harsh sentencing, as is usually the case when people violate their plea deals.) Yes, my friend, and there are those who despite having broken every single law and plea deal, have served little or no time and they are afforded attorneys at the expense of the state to defend and appeal their cases.


The famous case of “The Hurricane” a man with a lifelong arrest record that fills a book and a murder conviction, comes to mind. People, including Bob Dylan, worked hard to free him and ultimately succeeded. To this day no one is quite sure of his innocence but the rest of his record stands and speaks for itself. Yet, he is free thanks to his supporters. ( Strange, I don’t remember many who said that they were personally afraid to petition for this man’s release. )There are countless syndicated crime figures, many of whom have committed multiple murders, walking free in our society after having made the right deal ( the expedient deal ) with the right people.

Finally, my friend pointed out that in his opinion, Pollard deserves no Jewish rights of Pidyon Shvuim (Jewish law requires that we redeem captives) as Pollard broke the rules of ‘Dina de Malchutah, Dina’ (Jews must live according to the laws of the lands in which they live) and did much of the rest of the damage to himself. In addition he has done some calculations as to Mr. Pollard’s value not measuring up to his Super- Halichic Standards.

I have yet to hear of anyone who denied, including Mr. Pollard that he is in any way innocent. At best, he is and was truly torn between his duty to the USA and what he felt was his duty to Israel and his fellow Jews. At worst, he made many mistakes, which my friend has eagerly pointed out, some of them it seems, quite stupid, mistakes. I would like to remind my friend that most jailhouse stories usually start out with the phrase, “ It was about 2 AM and we were just sitting around having a drink in a bar……..” and of course, one stupid thing led to another., then to a robbery or worse ,a murder….

Dozens of Orthodox rabbis in Israel and the USA have ruled that Pollard’s release is indeed a matter of Pidyon Shevuim so you will forgive me if I accept their well respected, revered authority over my friend's puerile interpretation of Jewish Law and Jonathan Pollard’s dollar value.

As with other Jews who have recently been prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and beyond, and as with Judge Goldstone’s finding fault upon fault with Israel yet so little fault with Hamas , I feel that in desperately needing a lily white innocent prisoner, my friend has found just another way of feeding his, special Jewish sensitivity. He is sensitive to what others might feel makes for a perfectly air tight case and therefore a case for leniency and thereby attain the approval of the society in which he lives. Since when is such perfection demanded of trespassers and lawbreakers seeking mercy?

And what of the recent dozen or so Russian spies who lived and worked under- cover in the USA for decades including a couple of higher profile minor celebrities? They were exchanged immediately and returned to Russia. Imagine giving up a comfortable life in the USA for a life of struggling for a daily bowl of Borscht. I’m sure some of the deep cover spies tried to remain here, ‘free’ in exchange for information or double agent status. They were exchanged due to the expedience of the matter. It was simply expedient and convenient for the USA and Russia to put the matter to rest. Those spies simply had the most influential ‘friends’ in the highest circles. Not one of them served even one day beyond a little local detention while awaiting the exchange.

Part of Pollard’s long incarceration lies with the fact that it is not expedient for the Israeli government to open up this can of worms. They don’t want renewed headlines reading , “Israel Spies on USA”, although, Russia, China, and most of the other countries in the world whom the USA feeds and to whom we afford, Most Favored Nation Status, all spy on the USA. My advice to the Israeli government is to ‘man up’ and get over it. It’s not like Judge Goldstone will suddenly love Israel or glowing headlines regarding Israel’s largess toward her enemies ( daily convoys of aid to Gaza ) will miraculously appear in the Guardian newspaper of the UK or the New York Times .

After all, claims my friend, why bother? Pollard, according to this person’s calculations and deft understanding and interpretation of the standards of the Bureau of Prisons, should be out by 2015. (While it is true he was given a "life sentence", his release date is projected to be November 21st 2015.”) Gee, that’s only another 4 years of rotting away in prison. While it is true he was given a "life sentence", his release date is projected to be November2015") As they say, to those who have never lost it, freedom is free and therefore worth every penny.
Jonathan Pollard’s offences, intentional, committed without just regard, or enacted with stupidity should under no circumstances ever have caused him to serve a life sentence of 25 or 30 years. I’m sure that my friend would feed the homeless at the drop of a hat, would give Tzedakah at the highest level, ( i.e. reipient not knowing not the source nor the source knowing the recipient), and stand in line for hours to vote for the candidate whose promises most accurately reflect his ideology.

However, when it comes to publicly helping a Jew who has already spent his adult life in jail to live his remaining time in freedom, we must judge him by the standard of a bar raised high enough to make every professional and amateur jurist happy, even Judge Goldstone.

There are multiple ways to help free Jonathan Pollard. The writer requests that you openly appeal for his immediate release.

For more information about how you can help, visit the Justice for Jonathan Pollard website.

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