There was a rally for Jonathan Pollard in Safra Square (Jerusalem) today. What made this rally different from other rallies to free Jonathan Pollard? Haredim! The "Free Pollard" rallies that I am familiar with are usually attended almost exclusively by the knitted-kippah crowd. This rally, sponsored by Radio Kol-Chai, attracted Haredi youth of different streams: Chassidic, Sephardic, and Litvish. Important rabbis also attended the rally, among them Rabbi Grossman from Migdal HaEmek, Rabbi Avraham Yosef of Cholon(one of rabbi Ovadiyah Yosef's sons), and Rabbi Yonah Metzger, the Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi. Rabbi Metzger, who visited Jonathan Pollard in prison, described at lenghth the inhumane conditions that Pollard has to endure there. Azam Azam, the Israeli Druze who spent years behind bars in an Egyptian prison after being sentenced by an Egyptian kangaroo court also spoke on Jonathan's behalf.
It's about time that the U.S. Government set Pollard free. What Pollard did was wrong, but the punishment he received is far too harsh for the seriousness of his crime. Every day that Pollard sits in prison is a stain on the American judicial system which unfairly sentenced him, on Presidents Clinton and Bush Jr. who have failed to pardon him, and the Israeli government that has abandoned him.
Update:
Woolsey: "Time to consider commutation for Pollard."
A Jew's view from the capital of Israel and the future site of the Third Temple, may it speedily be rebuilt.
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2 comments:
Pollard did NOTHING wrong! Don't perpetuate the lies and myth that he did something wrong.
The US did something very wrong by deliberately breaking its agreement with Israel (its supposed ally) by not sharing vital security info with it.
The government of Israel did something very wrong by not standing up to the US and by abandoning Pollard who, as an Israeli citizen, acted on its behalf - as well as the world's (can you imagine what would've happened if, G-d forbid, Iraq had nuclear weapons?!)...
The nations of the world did something very wrong for allowing this absolute injustice. Shame on you!
So, don't ever say that Jonathan Pollard "did something wrong". Unless, of course, you freely choose to be associated with the US, Israeli government, or the nations of the world who actively choose to let him rot in prison.
Hello Anonymous,
He did break the law and he did plead guilty. His motives for breaking the law may have been just and noble but he betrayed the trust that the U.S. government put in him.
Of course you are correct that the US was wrong in breaking the agreement of sharing intelligence with Israel and not honoring the plea bargain with Pollard.
In any case I stand by what I wrote: He committed a crime but the punishment was much too severe.
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