Editorial: Taking Responsibility for Pollard

Hamodia
IMRA
07 September 09

Israel's state comptroller, retired judge Micha Lindenstrauss, last week released a report on the country's handling of the Pollard affair. In a nutshell, the report exonerates Israel's political leadership and blames Jonathan Pollard's continued incarceration on the "fierce and consistent" opposition of U.S. administration and intelligence officials. It also recommends that Israel press the Americans to give Pollard a new trial.

The report is, to put it charitably, a huge disappointment.

For starters, it makes contradictory claims. On one hand it states categorically that since 1996, the governments of Binyamin Netanyahu, Ehud Barak, Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert acted "continuously and consistently" to obtain the release of Pollard. "The Pollard issue challenged the prime ministers of Israel," it states. "Their actions were continual and consistent, and the issue was brought up in their meetings and conversations with U.S. presidents."

At the same time, Lindenstrauss admits that Netanyahu, Barak, Sharon and Olmert made sure that their discussions with U.S. presidents and senior administration officials on this sensitive issue were never documented. (He calls this failure a "significant transgression," because it makes it impossible to reassess past efforts to get Pollard freed and try to come up with a more successful approach.)

But if Lindenstrauss didn't have any transcripts of these meetings, how could he be so sure that these prime ministers acted "continuously and consistently" on Pollard's behalf?

Without going into all of the details of the Pollard case, the pertinent facts are as follows: Jonathan Pollard is an Israeli citizen (as of 1995); the government of Israel has recognized him as an Israeli agent (as of 1998); and he has spent the past 24 years in prison for providing Israel with information that saved many, many lives.

In this sense, Pollard is like any other Israeli prisoner, be it Ron Arad, the navigator downed over Lebanon in 1986, or Gilad Shalit, the IDF soldier
kidnapped at the border with Gaza three years ago. But there's one crucial difference: While Arad and Shalit are being held in unknown locations by terror organizations, Pollard is in the hands of Israel's closest ally, the United States. And it is inconceivable that Israel leaders acted "continuously and consistently" and still came up empty-handed.

How can it be that 24 years have passed - with U.S. administrations that were Republican and Democrat; more friendly to Israel and less friendly; with prime ministers from Labor and the Likud - and that at no time was it
possible to close a deal that would send Pollard home?

If the efforts of Israeli prime ministers were truly continuous and consistent, if there was the proper sense of hakaras hatov to Pollard for what he did for Israel, then surely there were ample opportunities in the past 24 years - be it at the signing of Oslo or the disengagement or the end of the administration of former president George W. Bush - to gain the release on humanitarian grounds for a man who is sick and who has expressed remorse for his deeds? (The notable exception was then-Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who truly tried to engineer a deal upon signing the Wye Plantation agreement on a Chevron withdrawal, only to be bitterly disappointed by Bill Clinton.)

The inescapable conclusion is that if prime ministers raised Pollard's case in all top-level discussions, it was done for the record, latzeis yedei chovah. The prime minister in question raised his name, the president noted
that it had been raised and then they moved on to more "important" matters.

MK Otniel Schneller (Kadima), who chairs the Knesset subcommittee that commissioned the state comptroller's report, refuses to join Lindenstrauss in applauding the work of previous prime ministers. "In the test of the result, the work surrounding Pollard did not succeed," he told The Jerusalem Post. "The fact that Pollard is still in jail is a failure."

To be sure, there is no denying that there are forces in the U.S. administration and among top intelligence officials who have consistently
blocked efforts to gain Pollard's release. It is also crystal clear that he was denied due process, given an excessive prison sentence and deserves an immediate release on humanitarian grounds due to his physical condition.

But the main problem is the way the Israeli government relates to Pollard. All along it was reluctant to assume responsibility for his actions, waiting more than 10 years to acknowledge that he had been acting as its agent.

Of all the prime ministers, Netanyahu is the one who has shown the greatest willingness to accept such responsibility. In 2002, he visited Pollard in prison. In 2007, he said that if he were elected prime minister he would bring about Pollard's release. Now it's time for him to try to keep that promise.

Let us keep Yehonoson ben Malkah constantly in our tefillos, and may Jonathan Pollard be written and inscribed for a good year, one that sees him released to Israel where, at long last, he will have a chance to regain his health and begin life anew.

Jonathan Pollard: 8692 days in prison http://www.jonathanpollard.org/
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Since Israel Betrayed Pollard, not One Israeli Captive has Come Home Alive

Manhigut Yehudit

Press Release

14 Elul, 5769 (Sept. 3, '09)

It is commendable that the State Comptroller has decided to probe the Pollard situation. But those who are willing to face the truth do not need his investigation. The State of Israel has consistenly betrayed its agent; it has never officially requested his release from prison. Israel's message to the US is clear. "We would prefer that Pollard die in your prison."

Since Israel betrayed Pollard 24 years ago, not one Israeli soldier has returned home alive from captivity. Israel's lack of values in the Pollard affair has brought it to a low point from which it can no longer protect its soldiers, who daily risk their lives for their country.

Trades since founding of Israel
www.al-magor.com/history%20prisoners%20release.htm
Based on article in YNET on 15.7.08

1. 14 March 1979: 1 soldier traded for 70 terrorists.
2. 23 November 1983: 6 soldiers traded for 4,765 terrorists
3. 28 June 1984: 6 Israelis for 312 Syrians (including 291 Syrian soldiers
captured in Lebanon)
4. 21 May 1985: 3 soldiers for 1,150 terrorists
5. 12 September 1991: 1 dead soldier for 52 terrorists
6. 21 July 1996: 2 dead soldiers for 105 dead terrorists
7. 25 June 1998: 1 dead soldier for 60 terrorists
8. 29 January 2004: 3 dead terrorist and Israeli criminal (Tenenbaum) for
427 terrorists
9. 15 October 2007: 1 dead soldier for Lebanese prisoner
10. June 2008: Body parts for Lebanese spy
11. 16 July 2008: 2 dead soldiers for 5 terrorists

Related: Lawyer Lambasts Pollard Report

also A Birthday Letter For Jonathan Pollard

Jonathan Pollard: 8688 days in prison http://www.jonathanpollard.org/
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Lawyer Lambasts Pollard Report

JPost Staff
03 September 09

Jonathan Pollard's lawyer, attorney Nitzana Darshan-Leitner, strongly criticized Thursday's report by State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss on the case of the convicted spy. According to Darshan-Leitner, "The report is an additional cover-up of the failures of successive Israeli governments on the issue of Pollard's release."

"No government at any time has made any effort to release Pollard, throughout all the years of opportunity that he has been in prison - 24 years," said Pollard's attorney.

Darshan-Leitner asserted that the government has abandoned Pollard.

"Pollard, an Israeli agent, tried to use all legal means at his disposal with the US authorities, including numerous requests for a retrial, and he has no choice but to depend on the [Israeli] government to release him," said Darshan-Leitner.

"However," added Pollard's attorney, "the Israeli government still pretends that all of Pollard's activities took place in an operational framework that was directed by [former senior Mossad official and Pollard's handler] Rafi Eitan under special authority, and not by the upper echelons of the state, and leaves him to deal alone with the results of this failure."

The attorney demanded that Lindenstrauss's entire report be released to the public."The fact that the overwhelming majority of the report is otherwise confidential, means that it contains dark secrets surrounding the Pollard affair that the government does not want the public to know," she claimed.

"The Israeli public must demand that the report be released in its entirety, including its classified parts, in order that the public can decide if there was indeed an effort on the part of the Israeli government to release Pollard, or if all of the successive administrations have relegated Pollard to the dustbin."

The new report said the Pollard issue was not neglected by consecutive Israeli governments, but suggested the convicted spy had likely been denied due legal process during his trial in the United States. The report refutes complaints by Pollard's family and friends, who have accused the government of not doing enough to secure his release.

While most of the report issued by Lindenstrauss remains classified, an abstract of the report was released for publication on Thursday afternoon.

Pollard was convicted in a US court of spying for Israel and has been in jail since November 1985. An American citizen, Pollard received Israeli citizenship in 1995. From May 1998 he was acknowledged as an agent working for Israel.

During his work on the matter, Lindenstrauss met with Pollard's attorneys and with former ministers, prime ministers and other government officials who worked to try and secure his release. He also met with Pollard's father, Prof. Morris Pollard.

The state comptroller also ordered a professional legal opinion from, among others, Prof. Kenneth Mann, a well-known expert in US and criminal law. Based on Mann's opinion, Lindenstrauss suggests that Pollard apparently did not enjoy his constitutional right for due legal process. He cited the US Constitution's Fifth Amendment, which articulates the basic rights of a person suspected of a crime.

Lindenstrauss found that consecutive US administrations refused to budge when it came to Pollard, with the main reason cited as the US intelligence community's strong opposition to his release, claiming it would be detrimental to US security interests.

The report by Lindenstrauss covers the administrations of prime ministers Binyamin Netanyahu (during his first term), Ehud Barak, Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert. He said all four discussed Pollard in meetings with US presidents, but said these talks should have been documented. Lindenstrauss offered to establish a protocol where such discussions, in the future, would be recorded.

"Such documents will provide an aggregate of insights on what has already been done to secure his release, and they can be used to draft future plans," Lindenstrauss states. According to the state comptroller, Israel also contacted congressmen and members of the US justice system, but their efforts were in vain.

Pollard's case is "closed, but not resolved" he said. "The prime minister and his government must do all in their power to release Pollard... the State of Israel owes Pollard the mitzvah of releasing captives and it's better late than never, in light of his frail health," he concluded.

Related: A Birthday Letter For Jonathan Pollard

Jonathan Pollard: 8687 days in prison http://www.jonathanpollard.org/
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