About Jonathan Pollard's Shavui Status:
Israel's Ambassador to the United States Visits with Pollard
By T. Silber - Hamodia [Weekend Edition, front page] - May 18, 2005
Justice4JP Prefacing Note: Special notes are included in the text below to
clarify the issue of Jonathan Pollard's shavui (captivity) status.

Israel's Ambassador to the United States, Danny Ayalon, met Jonathan Pollard
in his cell in a North Carolina prison, for the first time yesterday. It was
the first official visit by a high level Israeli government representative
since Pollard's incarceration in 1986 [J4JP: 1985.] Knesset members and
various Israeli ministers have met with Pollard during his imprisonment, but
those were private visits.

Before Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon traveled to Texas in April to
meet with President Bush, Pollard's Israeli supporters mounted a monumental
media campaign demanding, "Don't come home without Jonathan." It is widely
believed that it was Dr. Rice who was actually approached to arrange
yesterday's visit.

Earlier yesterday Ambassador Ayalon partook of a breakfast hosted by Mrs.
Pollard in her very modest accommodations. In the afternoon, he visited with
Pollard for 2 hours.

Present were Pollard, his wife, a close friend Rabbi Pesach Lerner,
executive vice president of Young Israel, the Deputy Israeli Consul General
from Atlanta, Mr. Aviv Ezra, Ambassador Ayalon and his bodyguard. Although
the press was barred [J4JP: by order of PM Ariel Sharon], a representative
of the US Navy was also there.

Pollard greeted the Ambassador with, "I have been waiting a long time for a
person in your position to visit me."

The ambassador responded that he had come as a representative of the Israeli
prime minister to assure Mr. Pollard that the Israel was doing everything to
get him released. He expressed a message of support and encouragement and
said he hoped that Jonathan understood that they were dealing with a
sensitive issue fraught with difficulties.

Pollard made a forceful request that he be granted shavui [prisoner] status
by the Israeli government, which would confer upon him and his wife vital
benefits. [J4JP clarification: By virtue of the fact that Jonathan is
officially recognized as an Israeli agent, he automatically has the status
of a shavui (a captive), but the government of Israel has consistently
refused to implement his shavui status or to act upon it. What Pollard
requested of the ambassador is that Israel implement his shavui status.
Implementation of shavui status with all the rights it bestows upon the
captive and his family, and all the obligations that devolve upon the
government is always automatic for an agent in captivity. Only in the case
of JonathanPollard, has the government deliberately refused to activate his
shavui status, which permits them to continue to duck all responsibility for
him.]

Pollard pointed out that when Mr. Sharon was determined to bring about the
release of Elchanon Tennenbaum and Azzam Azzam, who had been given shavui
status, he made it happen. [J4JP: the point is that neither Tennebaum nor
Azzam Azzam qualified for official shavui status, since they were not taken
into captivity while in active service of the state. Nevertheless, PM
Sharon in his determination to rescue them, granted them shavui status with
full benefits and acted upon it - something which has never been done for
Pollard, who unlike Tennenbaum and Azzam, is a fully qualified shavui!]

Although the ambassador was focused as he listed to Pollard's in depth
review of his entire history - including the instances when both the US and
Israeli governments, and their representatives, reneged on agreements - and
his plea for shavui status, Ayalon looked uncomfortable. Rabbi Lerner, in an
interview with Hamodia, noted that Ayalon is a compassionate person who
would certainly like to help. "If he had the authority he could be
delivering more than a message of support," Rabbi Lerner said.

Toward the end of the meeting, Pollard stated, "If the government of Israel
isn't willing to get me home based on the truth, then the people of Israel
have the right to know the true state of affairs between our two countries.
If the relationship is as good as everyone says it is, it should be a simple
matter to secure my release. If not, the people should know."

Ayalon responded that Israel is concerned, that it is sorry, that it is
really trying and will continue to do whatever it can, adding that the
friendship between America and Israel is strong.

Pollard thanked the ambassador for coming despite his disappointment that
this meeting offered little in terms of content or initiative, and that in
essence Ayalon's visit was an empty gesture. He asked Ayalon to come again
and to take care of his wife, who is a cancer patient.

Pollard, a former U.S. navy intelligence analyst, was given a life sentence
19 years ago [J4JP: 20 years ago] for passing classified information to
Israel. As a result of previous legal action in Israel, Pollard was given
Israeli citizenship in 1996 [J4JP: 1995] and later officially recognized as
an Israeli agent.

Last week Pollard petitioned the Israeli High Court of Justice demanding
that he be recognized as a Prisoner of Zion, a move aimed at putting more
pressure on the government to secure his release. Although the ministry's
Prisoner of Zion Authority last year rejected a petition on Pollard's behalf
as his case did not fit the criteria in the law, the move evidently had an
effect, evidenced a day later when Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom announced
that Israel had decided to take 'concrete' steps towards Pollard's release.

"In principle, our opinion is that 20 years is a long period, perhaps too
long, and the time has come for him to be released and come to Israel as a
new immigrant," Shalom said.

A source in Sharon's office said, "We believe and hope there will be
progress in the matter of Pollard during the summer." Political analysts say
that obtaining Pollard's release could take the edge off widespread
opposition to Sharon's disengagement plan.

In an interview with Globes last week, Ayalon said, "The U.S. has no
intention of releasing Jonathan Pollard. Israel is constantly working to
free him, but no desire or intent to respond is evident on this issue. For
that reason, it was decided to cheer up Pollard with this first-ever prison
visit from an Israeli ambassador." [J4JP: See Editorial: Pollard Deserves
Better http://www.jonathanpollard.org/2005/052005.htm]

At the conclusion of Ambassador Ayalon's meeting with Pollard, the prisoner
asked Rabbi Lerner to procure for him a set of Rabbi Eliyahu Kitov's "Book
of Our Heritage" that he will use to teach a young fellow prisoner about
Yiddishkeit.

"That request says a lot about Jonathan," said Rabbi Lerner. "He is not
bitter, and he is obviously focused on helping others." -30-

See Also:

Israel Betrayed Pollard - By Yossi Melman - Haaretz
www.jonathanpollard.org/2005/052205.htm

Glick: Imprisoned Pollard is Bad For U.S., Israel & U.S. Jewry
www.jonathanpollard.org/2005/052405.htm

Hamodia Editorial: Pollard Deserves Better
www.jonathanpollard.org/2005/052005.htm